Spathoglottis × parsonsii Ames & Quisumb. 1948 is a terrestrial growing, natural orchid hybrid, native to the Philippines. Natural orchid hybrid means, this orchid has been found in the wild and is a creation of mother nature, it`s not man-made.

Spathoglottis × parsonsii is a crossing between Spathoglottis plicata (seed parent) and Spathoglottis vanoverberghii (pollen parent) and has been registered with the Royal Horticultural Society as Spathoglottis × parsonsii, as well as Spathoglottis Parsonsii in the year 1931. The terrestrial orchids from the Spathoglottis genus are very popular in our tropical home country Thailand, where they are called Ueang Din, means terrestrial growing orchid. Unfortunatly it seems to be the only name known for Spathoglottis orchids and if we go to orchid shows, there is always a section with about 15 colorful Spathoglottis species orchids and hybrids, all just labeled as Ueang Din. Over the years we`ve got a big collection of flower photographies of this orchids, but we can`t identify them.

As the support for this web project has to be described as abysmal, we can´t afford to spent a few days to identify a single plant, so we can`t publish the often spectacular images. For the identification of Spathoglottis Parsonsii we had to spent nearly a whole day. We found a few trails and after a long while we`ve been nearly sure, that the orchid hybrid must be a Spathoglottis × parsonii, also written as Spathoglottis parsoni, so we tried to check the name with Tropicos and Kew Monocot List. Unfortunatly we`ve got no results and thought it`s maybe better to surrender. As it happens, we found another hybrid and this one had Spathoglottis parsonsii as a parent. The whole fuzz about, was just the misspelling, used all over the internet. It`s parsonsii, not parsonii ! Without any doubt Spathoglottis × parsonsii is a very beautiful orchid. The erect inflorescences can reach lengths up to about 1 meter. Flowers get a size of about 5 cm across. Flowering period: October - December. The natural orchid hybrid requires a warm - hot, humid climate and is best cultivated in a sunny location.

Flower Photography © Orchids Flowers.com
Image: Orchid Hybrid Spathoglottis × parsonsii
Photographer: Kitisak “Nat” Jaidee

Spathoglottis orchids (species and hybrids) at Orchids Flowers.com: