New: Paphiopedilum x mittrachianum

In 2021 I have an orchid gardener near Celle in a larger stock of flowering Paph. gratrixianum (now called Paph. christensonianum) found a plant with a different flower and bought this plant.

Before I could get any decent pictures of this plant, the flower fell off. Patience until the next blossom was required.

In January 2022 the plant flowered again and many pictures were taken. Some pictures of it were sent to Olaf GRUSS as a Paphiopedilum expert and after a short time the answer came: it could be a natural hybrid that has not yet been described.

When inquiring about the origin of the plants, it turned out that this stock of plants had been imported from northern India by an orchid trader over 40 years ago.

In which country these plants were actually collected, could no longer be determined.

The probable parents are therefore Paph. christensonianum (then imported as Paph. gratrixianum) and Paph. hirsutissimum or Paph. hirsutissimum var. esquirolei have been identified.

For a description as a new natural hybrid, the plant had to be measured and described in detail by me, then dried and pressed and then sent to the Botanical State Collection in Munich as herbarium material.

In issue 2 2022 of the Orchidjournal of the Association of German Orchid Friends e.V., this plant was now valid under the name Paph. x mittrachianum published.

From the collection at the beginning mentioned of Paph.  christensonianum a second deviating plant was identified.

Whether this is the normal spread of the Paph. x mittrachianum, or another natural hybrid, cannot be said with certainty.

here is a direct comparison of this plant with Paph. christensonianum: