Paphiopedilum helenae

I will go and have a chat with mine! Thanks for posting this. I think it looks great and I see you have more blooms to come.

 

Excellent slipper! I have been a paph grower longer than anything else and this is the largest one I have seen. It also has an excellent dorsal and very good form. The petals on these tend to thin out and flop, which yours does not as well. It is something to certainly be proud of.

 

Stephen- Your friend is correct. For this plant to be awardable it would have to have the accompanied paperwork for CITES. Some legal and awardable sources would be from Holger Perner from Hengduan or Piping Rock. I'd imagine there are now other sources, but they may not be recognized by the AOS (at least within the US).

Just remember that if you buy a paph and intent on getting it judged (Species or Hybrid), to do your homework first. Just because a vendor says it is legal, DOES NOT mean it is awardable. Paperwork is important, whether CITES or a receipt to an 'accepted' vendor.

It is all pretty frustrating and as flasks are imported from artificial props it makes little sense.

If I had your plant I would still enter it, just note it as "not for AOS judging". I'm sure you would end up with a few, well deserved ribbons.

 

The plant looks healthy and the flowers look very nice, Well done!

 

fantastic plant really by far he best I have seen, as for CITES for this species it is impossible to get they are totally banned for trade I know it seems amazing, as they and others that are also banned are on sale all over the world, but this really is true you can not even import/export them in flask or seed or H/B of them. see his list that was sent to me and a number of other major species producers around the world. All plants on here are banned for trade he country that he plants are from have never made an export permit on hem so all plants on the market are from "illegal stock". A very stupid move by CITES if you ask me I have just got back from Taiwan and many of the plants on this list are there by the thousand, fantastic plants from flask at great prices, and non can be exported, what a wast i fail to see how this helps protect he wild population surely flooding the market with farmed plants at good prices would stop most people buying from the forest. Do not Paph henryanum has had the ban lifted.

 

Andy_ I disagree. Perner has the proper paperwork for many of the species you have listed. Not only in flask, but also in BS plants. I have CITES for hangianum plants from him. When it comes to growers in Taiwan, they WILL NOT have paperwork as you mentioned but the plants export to the US on regular intervals without much interdiction.

 

look at he heading on the paper work i attached and where it s from he head office of CITES for the whole world. I am not making this up, I have even contacted CITES in vietnam my self to find out about about his, A lot of these plants that are exported are done so under the name Paph H/B with fake parentage names being given. If you or some one has some how got cites i would love to give it a test run on importing some plants from you here under he condition that if the CITES done not hold up there will be a refund.

 

I see your concern Andy. I would be willing to forward you a copy of my CITES paperwork from my plants so you can review it. They came in earlier this year. Perner's plants are some of the only ones that actually come with documentation. The AOS even recognizes it, which I believes upholds this claim, but does not guarantee it. I do not know how CITES functions from country to country but my understanding is that Vietnam is MUCH MORE strict with what they allow. If you purchased plants from Perner I think they would honor your stipulation and would reimburse you if they were not to get through but I cannot speak for him. They do ship to Thailand. Email Wenqing and ask. She is very helpful.
[email protected]

 

I have just been going through the CITES data base and there is nothing here to say i am right in many ways his really annoys me as i have stopped trading in the plants on that list after getting the mail from the head office and i know i am not the only one to get it i would be very grateful my email is [email protected]
Thanks for the help

 

lovely congratulation

 

Stephen, in the past the questionable ones still get judged because they can't verify CITES pprwk until after the judging is completed. If a plant can potentially have pprwk it will be judged, but the award wouldn't officially get registered without it. I believe the legal, blooming size helenae you are referring to are from H. Perner at Hengduan. He sells them legally with CITES pprwk.
Was the award that you recd provisional? If they changed the status of helenae that would be great, but they still haven't done it with tranlienianum or others that has been around for longer and that I would think more easily changed. I think all Appendix 1 paphs will end up 'legal/ or awardable' after a few more years. Once legal plants get in they all get mixed up. Once primary crosses are readily made with them, the significance of paperwork is meaningless.

Congrats on your plant. It is well deserved.