There was no pot label with this specimen, but it is clearly a bulbophyllum orchid. Extensive online searching of photos yielded only two candidates, Elizabeth Ann 'Buckleberry', and a child of that hybrid called Lovely Elizabeth ( Bulbophyllum Elizabeth Ann × Bulbophyllum rothschildianum . Read more here https://bluenanta.com/detail/i...) The coloration of the two is similar. Since Elizabeth Ann 'Bucklberry' is the older, more established, and presumably commoner variety, I opted for posting pictures of this specimen here.

Hi Elizabeth,

I agree that it is a Bulbophyllum and shares a lot of similarities with Elizabeth Ann 'Buckleberry', but unfortunately I have some doubts about the ID.

If you compare your photo:


with these existing ones:


you can see that the column on the plant you photographed has spots on the underside and the "hairs" on the dorsal petal are bigger. The stripe down the lip also appears to be missing.

@BigBill, @Daisyl, @DaylilySLP, @csandt, @Ursula and @Gina1960 - are any of you able to comment on whether EA 'Buckleberry' varies to the extent shown in Elizabeth's photo? I am considering whether this needs to be in the grex entry, or moved to the genus entry. Thanks.

I grew this grex on Long Island and in Florida for almost 25 years. Elizabeth Anne would always flower in October. You could "set your calendar" by it. It was that reliable. ( actually September 20- November 10). I gave three or four plants of it when I moved to Michigan. I didn't want to but the "ladies" who came to my 'orchid giveaway' begged me for it!! I crumbled and gave them away. One lady got my big 35 growth plant and has sent me a text for the last 3 years when it bloomed. Sure enough, mid October. She is just so thrilled to have it!

I noticed this entry and I was bothered by the date listed for the image @ the AAOS Show in March. But I am hesitant to discard a name based on a date alone. But Elizabeth Anne is just so tied to October it is ridiculous!! I would assume that the declining daylight hours is what triggers it to bloom. New York and Fort Myers were very different in culture yet Elizabeth Anne still bloomed in October. You would see it in all the Fall shows.
Off hand I am not aware as to when Bulbophyllum Lovely Elizabeth blooms. I am familiar with it of course but whether or not it blooms in the spring, I can't say.

I actually think it looks a lot more like one of the parents of the hybrid in the cross, B. rothschildianum.

I have B. rothschildianum, B. longissimum (which is actually blooming now), the two parents of 'Elizabeth Ann Huckleberry' (which I also grow) and I also have th either progeny, 'Elizabeth Ann Jean'

I went through all of the awards for longissimum, rothschildianum and Elizabeth Anne. It is 106 awards total, and with the exception of one, the 2 species and one hybrid are all awards granted from late September through early November. As I said, Fall Bloomers!!!
The only exception was the first two awards granted an Elizabeth Anne Buckleberry on Long Island and NYC. They were in April! Every other award was for fall blooming plants.

I do not think it is rothschildianum. Rothschildianum has shorter rolled sepals and very long tails. They typically are a redder flower. On Elizabeth Anne has sepals that are much broader for a longer length vertically. Hard for me to explain.
Elizabeth Anne's are a pink flower, not as red. Longissimum is much lighter in color.

I do not see any flower feature that keeps me from saying this is not an Elizabeth Anne. And when 2 awards out of 106 are spring awards, there is a extremely slight chance of a spring blooming. Those two awards went to the same plant at the same Judging, an 81 point AM and a 91 points CCE.

Can we invalidate the image based on bloom time? I don't know if that is a valid enough reason.

I'm happy to defer to the decision of experts regarding proper placement of these images in the database. I have read with interest the preceding discussion, hoping to absorb some of the information about what distinguishes one variant from another.

BigBill said:I do not see any flower feature that keeps me from saying this is not an Elizabeth Anne. And when 2 awards out of 106 are spring awards, there is a extremely slight chance of a spring blooming. Those two awards went to the same plant at the same Judging, an 81 point AM and a 91 points CCE.

Can we invalidate the image based on bloom time? I don't know if that is a valid enough reason.

Thanks Bill and Gina. I don't think we can rule it out on bloom time alone, especially as I've seen quite a variation in bloom time in plants over the past few years. Things aren't quite as stable as they used to be.

I'm confident enough from what you have both said to consider this an Elizabeth Ann, but as I am not certain it is 'Buckleberry' I would prefer to move it to the grex entry if there are no objections. Thoughts?

Orchid (Bulbophyllum Elizabeth Ann)

I grew the Elizabeth Ann 'Buckleberry' for many years. In my hands here in NJ it bloomed like clockwork around the middle of November. My plant was a division from the actually award winning Waldor Orchid. plant. I dug into my old files for some close ups! ( my plant in full bloom is also in our database)

I agree with Joshua, comparing close ups of blooms!

I have no suggestions or objections. To eliminate something, I think that stronger evidence is needed and bloom date does not qualify as strong evidence.

There is another orchid that I could set my calendar by, Cattleya now Guarianthae bowringiana. That sucker would always bloom the same time like Elizabeth Anne. Bowringiana would bloom in October for me. Maybe it would be from mid September through early November.
I grew 4-5 clones of bowringiana and they all bloomed in October.

Maybe this one? - https://orchidroots.com/detail...
or https://orchidroots.com/detail...
Meen Nursery has registered some unusual primary hybrids.

It does not look like Elizabeth Ann to me either. I found photos from our local orchid show taken in October 2018 and 2019 that look like the database photos.

I don't agree. The orchid in question looks more like Elizabeth Anne then the couple you have suggested. Look at the flower count for one. Vegetatively they are different as well. The length of the tails on the Elizabeth Anne that we are struggling with are much longer then those two Meen crosses.

The Orchid Wiz program and the AOS awards program provide literally dozens of images of Elizabeth Anne and the huge majority of them match up with this unknown. They are so very similar, it is uncanny!
@Australis brought this to us just to confirm, if we could, that this was an Elizabeth Anne or was it something else.
Now I am not a taxonomist! I am not a species expert and I am not any kind of certified expert on orchid species identification but I do have over 45 years of orchid experience. I would imagine that my exposure to orchids is rather vast both as a grower, club member and judge. This "Elizabeth Anne" or whatever she is, is a hybrid within this part of the genus Bulbophyllum. It is 100% a by product of B. rothschildianum, longissimum, Elizabeth Anne, Lovely Elizabeth grouping. It is not from the Bulbophyllum bicolor, Bulbophyllum fascinator group.
If you scroll up within this post, look at Ursula's image of this hybrid with all of those spikes!! That is so typical of Elizabeth Anne!!
But Australis, I have thought about this a bit and I thought of something else. BUT it in no way changes my opinion that this unknown is a Buckleberry. I grew this like I said for a number of years and a few times my biggest clone bloomed with 8-10 inflorescences. But never did it have more then 3 or 4 flowers per! Not once!!!
Now that is my culture, my plants. If you look at arctangent's images, it has more flowers per inflorescence. A great many of the awards average 3.5-4.25 per. But is flower count enough to question the validity of arctangent's hybrid? In my opinion, that is a NO!!!
It is thought provoking though.

Thanks Olga and Bill.