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Flowers

How do the buds open. I noticed that some have reallly long sepals, or tepals, or petals... wutever they are... Anyhow, do they just grow slowly, elongate, or do they cascade down, and out of the bud when it opens? The later would make me wanna buy one. OOOOORRRRRR do they kinda, just unfurl like petals?
 
Hi Parasuco

Yes some have very long petals...up to 3 feet in some cases (most notably the paphiopedilum sanderianum and its hybrids). However they are hard to find and usually pretty expensive. While I don't have one of these (would LOVE to get one), I'm sure they cascade when the bud opens. Flower petals are usually formed within the bud and expand as they open...they don't really grow the way a leaf grows.

The brassias have very long thin spikey petals that give the flower a spider-like appearance (hence they are sometimes called spider orchids) but they don't really cascade. I have a pic of my brassia if you'd like to see what that looks like. They are pretty cool looking.

Suzanne
 
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