yet anoher ID request

[palito]

So a friend in Costa Rica got this in an orchid show, however the label is empty. Any idea what type of orchid it is?

[kmarch]

It looks like Cochleanthes discolor, which might be native to Costa Rica as I believe Cochleanthes come from Central or South America. Does it smell like peppercorns?

[palito]

thanks kmarch! ill ask about the fragrance.. but it looks just like it.

[palito]

ok, my friend was able to contact the vendor. the plant is Warczewiczella discolor (formerly Cochleanthes?? )

[kmarch]

The name change to Warczewiczella for this plant was proposed back in 2000 by Dressler (a well-known orchid taxonomist), but Warczewiczella is not yet recognized by the RHS. The RHS still uses Cochleanthes. Because it is the RHS that re what species are recognized for hybridizing purposes and because it is the RHS that registers hybrids globally, I believe unnecessary confusion arises from using names not formally recognized by the RHS. For example in this instance, 5 hybrids have been registered using thisparticular species. If you searched the RHS database using Warczewiczella, you'd not find any of them. Also if you wanted to register a hybrid using this plant you'd have to use Cochleanthes.

Taxonomists are constantly changing the names of orchids. If we, as hobbiests were to keep up with that, we'd be changing names on our tags every month when the new publications came out. It's best to let the dust settle and see which names become accepted for general use in the broader community and then recognized by the RHS. Doing so avoids a great deal of unnecessary work and confusion.

That's a long explanation but hopefully helpful.