This Coelogyne comes from areas around Thailand where it grows on deciduous trees at around 100 metres. The trees become deciduous as the leaves drop off in the incredibly hot dry season - not from cold!. These dry seasons in the tropics put an incredible strain on all plants and are then counter-balanced by wet monsoonal deluges. Obviously, this orchid can survive these conditions but this doesn't mean it has to be treated this harshly. Most orchids growing in nature look very tatty and awful and would never be entered in a competition.
This Coelogyne has small flowers that grow very close to the base of the plant, which is not ideal for display purposes. My plant lacks any perfume. The 'fudge' colouring flows around the outside of the flower, which would normally add more attractiveness, fails in this case because it simply further mutes the off-white colour of the rest of the flower. However, the few Coelogynes that have the colouring on the outside all tend to have muted colours, except perhaps for the small patches of orange on the outside of Coelogyne mooreana 'Brockhurst'. In Australia, it only flowers once a year and in late Autumn.
The name refers to three very prominent veins or nerves that flow along the leaf. Counting the veins in Coelogyne leaves is a cruel type of torture. I find it a very frustrating activity and decided a long time ago to ignore it. The veins range from large obvious ones that look like major leaf ribs to small, insignificant veins and these are more obvious on some leaves than others.
Negatives: The flowers are smallish, not displayed well and the colours lack sparkle.
Rating: ♦♦ There are many more attractive Coelogynes to collect before finding a space for this waif. Having made this personal statement, a FaceBook group (Orchid Growers Australia) recently published a spectacular specimen size picture of this orchid with masses of bloom!
Sometimes sold as: Coelogyne rossiana.
Varieties: There are a few variations but none of them named.
Registered Hybrids:
1. Coelogyne Carolyn Sue (S Pruyn, 2001) - using Coelogyne speciosa as the pod parent.
2. Coelogyne Orchideengarten Anna - using Coelogyne Linda Buckley as the pollen parent (K Karge Orchideengarten - Aug 2015).
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