This handsome fellow has been my main dinner-table decoration this season, and it is very good at its job. A stunning centerpiece with gorgeous compact mottled leaves with a super tall and slender inflorescence that won’t impede dinner conversations. I adore the little guy and would not mind having an entire window box of them blooming every Christmas – much better than any other typical seasonal plants, even a tree.
Paphiopedilum appletonianum is a medium sized, warm to cool growing species that can grow either as a terrestrial, lithophyte and occasional epiphyte. It grows in shady lowland evergreen forests and primary highland cloud forests at elevations from 700 – 2000 meters across Southeast Asia. It is a faithful bloomer for me every winter, and it produces a very long lived purple and green glossy flower on an extremely long (about 50 cm) purple-brown and hairy inflorescence. I grow it intermediate, medium bright and potted in medium bark mixed with some lava rocks.
Paphiopedilum appletonianum (Gower) Rolfe, Orchid Rev. 4: 364 (1896).
