This week’s Orchid of the Week is… Cym. Langleyense
Parentage: This weeks Orchid of the Week is a cross between Cym. devonianum × Cym. lowianum
Registered: 1911
The reason why it’s our Orchid of the Week:
This week’s Orchid of the Week is a very old cascading Cymbidium Orchid that still shines! And being a primary hybrid, of course it has a place in my collection!
Cym. Langleyense is a wonderful grower and prolific flowerer. For me, I get very long cascading spikes of 28 or even more flowers in a lovely bronze shade, and that bold red lip really shouts ‘look at me’! Flowers are a miniature/intermediate size and are generally very evenly and well spaced down the spike.
There is both a diploid (2N) and a tetraploid (4N) version available of Cym. Langleyense and it’a a matter of personal preference as to which you prefer.
One of the parents, Cym. devonianum, has been used to great effect in modern breeding and is producing some amazing plants, including a few a friend of mine is growing and will be featured in the future.
Cym. Langleyense has only been registered as a parent 17 times, so not as popular but has still provided some very nice progeny, including Cym. Wolfman Jack, which we have previously featured as an Orchid of the Week.
My plant receives an abundance of light and warmth, so that may account for the fact it flowers every single year without fail. A fact that amazes me as it is not the most well looked after plant in my collection! The plant and pot receive a good amount of direct light for all of winter and the pot gets quite warm. I guess this accounts for the 5 new growths my plant currently has!
Looking back at the original species ancestors of this plant, using Orchid Roots, we only have Cym. devoinianum and Cym. lowianum!