Paph. kolopakingii vs Paph. platyphyllum

Paph. kolopakingii grows in the upper reaches of the Barito River in the border area of ​​Sabah (Malaysia, Borneo) and Kalimantan (Indonesia, Borneo) partly with Paph. rothschildianum together. Initial speculation was that it was a large form of Paph. rothschildianum. In 1984 FOWLIE introduced this species as Paph. kolopakingii described.

The Paph. topperi was described in 1988 by BRAEM & MOHR only has a much darker coloring of the flowers.

The locality of Paph. platyphyllum is said to be in Sarawak (Malysia, Borneo), although there are no exact localizations. These plants were described in 2001 by YUKAWA & GRUSS.

Flowering plants of Paph. kolopakingii could be seen rather seldom - pictures of Paph. platyphyllum can be admired on the internet.

It was all the more gratifying that in a larger stock of Paphiopedilen both Paph. kolopakingii (here: Paph. topperi – cf. blog Paph. kolopakingii vs Paph. topperi) and Paph. platyphyllum in bloom and photographed at the same time.

Only in direct comparison can you see the different size of the flowers of these two species.

In 2008/2009 there was made a crossing in Franz Glanz's nursery between Paph. kolopakingii and Paph. platyphyllum. First plants of it flowered in 2013 - this hybrid is available in 2018 under the name Paph. Wössner Koloplaty registered.

In this respect, an identification of flowering plants of these individual species and hybrids seems rather difficult.