Tuesday, September 15, 2015

Ambiguously pretty pictures: Neostylis Lou Sneary 'Colorful Blue' and Guarianthe x guatemalensis

These were actually perfectly nice plants and flowers (well, the Neostylis was maybe a little on the yellow side, but it was trying hard to be green, you could tell), but my camera just failed to get an in-focus, usable shot of them. Rather than discard the photos, I'm using them anyway, partly because I figure the photos will look more focused after they get shrunk down to fit the blog, and partly because I thought the Guarianthe was pretty, and an imperfectly-focused photo of it is better than no photo at all.

Guarianthe x guatemalensis = Guarianthe aurantiaca x Guarianthe skinneri (naturally occurring hybrid1)

It appears that "Neostylis Lou Sneary" has become obsolete since I looked it up in March, and is now Vandachostylis Lou Sneary. Either that or the orchid registry where I look these things up only just got around to changing it. Or I was rushing through the process so much that I didn't bother to check whether the name was still current. Whichever of these three possibilities applies, my reaction's the same: *sigh*.

Neostylis Lou Sneary 'Colorful Blue' = Vanda falcata x Rhynchostylis coelestis (Ref.)


1 I don't have a reference recorded for this one, but I'm pretty sure I didn't just make it up. How badly do you want to know where it came from?


Ginny Burton said...

Very pretty pictures that looked focused to these old eyes.

Paul said...

Yes the taxonomists have been at it again. Neofinetia no longer exists. It has been subsumed into Vanda. Many hobbyists have thrown in the towel on keeping up with all the name changes and have opted to stick with the older known names.

Daniel McClosky said...

Well, I'm glad taxonomists are bringing our understanding of the real evolutionary relationships between orchids into line with the names we give them. New names are a hassle, but they are also an invitation to delve into the natural history of these fascinating plants.