Calanthe mannii
Archive entry 15.04.12
9th May 2010
I bought this plant in 2007 at a show as C.fargesii, and the seller knew nothing about the plant. It was a drop
in the flood of new plants coming out of China at the time. It has grown slowly in a pot in the
cold greenhouse since then without showing a lot of enthusiasm, but this year it has produced a flower spike.
The species grows in warm temperate forests, there are suggestions that it will grow in cooler
locations, but there is very little information available. (I didn't even know that tiny fragment when I got it
, or I wouldn't have left it in a cold greenhouse).
The plant has decided to flower after a series of unusually cold winters, which throws the identification into doubt.
There are very few pictures available online, but I don't think this is the real thing. If I had to guess
(and it is little more than that) then I would say that this is a form of the very variable (and hardy)
Calanthe discolor or possibly C.mannii.
15th April 2012