Two beautiful orchids

[elitebettas]

Wow, I came across these two plants and was amazed at the richness in color, the maxillaria is practically black. The paph is also amazing

[tizzycat]

I'll second that!! They're gorgeous.

[orchid_girl]

Very gorgeous!! I love the maxillaria. That leads to a question has anyone ever seen a true black orchid? My mom told me once when she was I child that she had saw one and I was wondering is there any such thing?

[tom499]

never seen a paph maudiae that dark before.

They are great plants, Mine has been putting out flowers since i bought it in june.

that max. is a lovely one too, could you get a shot of the whole plant?

[brookn]

I would love to have either one, just fabulous. What are the names?

[PhalPal]

That Paph is just gorgeous!!

[kmarch]

The Maxillaria is Max. variabilis. As the name suggests the flowers are highly variable ranging from broght yellow to near-black as depicted in the picture.

In orchids (and all flowering plants) colour comes from pigments called chlorophylls (greens and oranges) and flavonoids (reds, blues, pale yellows). These terms might be familiar to those who are into healthy eating as studies have shown that certain types of chlorophylls and flavonoids such as carotenoids and anthocyanins have been shown to have health benefits. If I remember correctly there are about a dozen different chlorophylls and flavonoids which account for the entire range of colours present in orchids. None of these pigments is genuine black so any colourations that approach or appear black are really intense concentrations of multiple colours. If you are fortunate enough to have a black cat as a pet, observe its fur the next time it lays so that the sun's rays are shining through the pelt. It will most likely take on either an extremely dark brown cast or a bluish cast.

Anyway, what we traditionally call "black" orchids are really intensely dark and concentrated browns, reds, greens, and purples/maroons. This variety of Max. variablis is sometimes referred to as the "black" form. Some of the very dark vini-coloured Paphs, many of which are substantially darker than the one pictured above are called "Black Paphs." There are some extremely dark colourations in some Draculas and Pleurothallids. Also Coelogyne pandurata is sometimes called the "black orchid" because of the black filligree markings on the lip, even though the dominant colour of the flower is green.

[fred]

I love the pics thank you for sharing them with us.
I also love Maxillaria,s

[pikevi]

Both are absolutely beautiful.

Thanks for the photos.

[orchid_girl]

Thank you Kevin for the info. I had never seen one that was black and I was curious (yes curiosity killed the cat I know....LOL). By the way I do a have black cat

[Summerglow]

WOW! Nice plant there...