Cypripedium calceolus : natural variations

[johanneshoeller]

Here are some Cypripedium calceolus which grow near my garden - the season has just started here. I hope it is of interest for you.
It is raining and raining again and very cold (today +4°C), so the pictures are not so perfect. I have taken 500 pics of different calceolus. All plants are abnormal (very large shoes, interesting colours or petals,...) and I hope you can see it.

Part 1

[johanneshoeller]

Part 2:

[johanneshoeller]

Part 3 (I hope there are not too many uninteresting pics!!):

[Paul T]

Hans,

    Wow!  So many nice forms in there, particularly 9163 with it's perfectly twisted petals.  Stunning!  Thanks for showing us. 

[Lvandelft]

Hans, this shows very good that in nature the so called real plant can occur in varied forms. 
I like nr 7 in the first batch and nrs. 3 and 4 in the 2nd batch very much, but nrs. 3 and 4 of the last batch
is the most stunning form (for me).
Thanks for sharing these beautiful and interesting pictures!

[Lvandelft]

Oh, and I don't like the first one in batch one at all!   

[Maggi Young]

Hans, I think this expression of the interesting variation in the wild Cyp. caleolus is important enough to warrant its own place... I will split the page ! 

[Joakim B]

Luit I thought number 1 in batch one was most interesting so taste is different.
Thanks Hans for showing this lovely diversity.
Kind regards
Joakim

[Lvandelft]

Joakim, interesting yes, but...

[Anthony Darby]

The depth of colour is due to the temperature when the flower forms. I think it is possibly darker when the temperature is cooler, which is why plants in shade, and thus sheltered, tend to be light. It also explains why you can get a pale and a dark flower on the same stem, and differences from year to year.

[johanneshoeller]

Antony,
I thought so like you years before, but I have just seen that the temperature does not have any effect to the depth of the colour!!
When I have taken the photos, the temperature was very high (30°C). The dark petals or shoes are always dark!
Now it is very cold with snow where the Cyps grow(!) and the new flowers are dark or light!

[ian mcenery]

Hans great pictures I will have one of each please 

[Regelian]

Wow!

Hans, thanks for posting these and Maggi, thanks for seperating the thread.  This is my all time favourite Cyp, due to the variation and general elegance.  Nice to know I can plan on a lot of collecting in the next years.  Hans, do you know if flasked seedlings give this much variation, or do they tend to be consistent from any given pod?

[Anthony Darby]

Antony,
I thought so like you years before, but I have just seen that the temperature does not have any effect to the depth of the colour!!
When I have taken the photos, the temperature was very high (30°C). The dark petals or shoes are always dark!
Now it is very cold with snow where the Cyps grow(!) and the new flowers are dark or light!

The temperature is only important at a particular stage of flower development within a clone. You can have a mild winter, but if there is a cold snap when the flower is developing its colour it will be different from another on the same plant that is earlier or later. I had a clone that was sheltered under shrubs and it was always very pale. When I moved it into the open its tepals were really dark.

[Luc Gilgemyn]

Fabulous series Hans !!!! 

I tend to agree with Anthony on this one - I have the distinct impression the same phenomenon occurs with Pleione !  Lighter colours when developping (quicker !) during a warm spell.