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Originally Posted by Yiu Lin  I'm interested in knowing more about spike branching on phals. Does anyone have information on this? |
Phal schilleriana and stuartiana are probably the most commonly used phal species for breeding branching hybrids. They both branch quite a bit. Phal aphrodite also branches but not quite as extensively as the other two. I think there are some other species that branch too but they're slipping my mind at the moment.
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Originally Posted by Yiu Lin What does a spike branch look like? Anyone have any pictures of a branched spike ? |
Here's a mounted Phal stuartiana in bud where you can see the branches on the inflorescences Here's a Phal stuartiana staked up in a way that you can easily see the many branches Here is a beautiful Phal schilleriana mounted with several easily seen branches. This is pretty representative of how they flower in the wild. And finally a staked up schilleriana with a contrasting background so the branches are easily seen.
Now to clarify a point that confuses some: A branching phal is one that has enough naturally branching species in its background to make it branch naturally when spiking. A phal that spikes, the those flowers die off and it shoots out a secondary spike off the old inflorescence, is not necessarily a branching phal. Branching phals can do this as well, but in order for it to be a branching phal the inflorescence needs to branch as the initial inflorescence grows out.