Stanhopea insignis

Stanhopea insignis1

 

Stanhopea insignis2

 

This beautiful stanhopea just finished it's flowering and I always love to see this beauty in bloom. Stanhopea insignis is one of the first stanhopea orchids been discovered in 1818 and as usual it have very colorful and interesting history. In 1829 it ended in Kew Botanical Gardens  and from there on been appearing in various private collections.

To trace appearance of stanhopea insignis is like immersing oneself in stanhopea orchids history and archives - it's been described and mentioned in various publications by orchid collectors such as John Frost, William Jackson Hooker, Jenisch/Kramer of Hamburg,  Demidoff of Italy,  Hoffmannsegge of Dresden, Linden of Ghent, Loddiges of Hackney, and Sir Phillip Henry Earl of Stanhope the president of medical-botanical society in London - all of them made tremendous contribution to bringing stanhopea species to the world. Stanhopea insignis was the first stanhopea specie named.

The plant native to states of Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, Santa Caterina and Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil and it's habitat rather dry which gives clue to it's successful flowering.

This specie extremely variable in  colors, there are quite a few different clones about, some a pure pristine white and my plant showing white background with many purple dots all over the flower. The scent to me smells like pure cinnamon - strong, piercing, penetrating.

Stanhopea insignis ( from Latin - remarkable) beautiful stanhopea orchid to love and to admire and to reflect on it's interesting history.