Stanhopea wardii var citrina

It’s only first week of spring in our part of the world, but one of my earlier flowering stanhopea plants already in flower – it’s stanhopea wardii var citrina. This variety is from Colombia and relatively new in my collection. About few weeks ago, right in the middle of our winter I’ve noticed this plant started growing flower spikes which were very unusual, since we still had cold weather and I’ve been watching them grow since then.

This morning flowers opened up and I’ve captured them in this picture. The plant is of medium size and so are the flowers, however there are quite an abundance of them – one spike currently carry 11 flowers and another one developed 10, making it quite a beautiful flowering spectacle.

The flowers are of light mustard color, darker in the middle, with specks and eyes and the scent is distinct sweet citrus, like a combination of lemon and orange, all in one. This one is really beautiful and special stanhopea variety for a collector of these magical plants.