Paphiopedilum delenatii Guillaumin
To begin, I will talk about another lady slipper, the Paph. venustum from Northern India and Bhutan – possibly the wettest land on the globe. It was the first species imported to Europe, 1818 – by Dr. Nathaniel Wallich, starting a long line of lady slipper importations from South East Asia. This species is readily recognized by its vividly mottled leaves and it brown pouch with heavy veins which in the minds of some people make the pouch look like a roadmap. Paph. venustum needs very warm and moist conditions during the summer and a somewhat drier rest in the winter months.
 Paphiopedilum delenatii |
Pretty close 100 years later, in 1914, an officer of the French army stationed in Vietnam had found and collected a few lovely pink and fragrant lady slippers. He duly sent some specimens to England, where they were turned into herbarium specimens. He also sent a few to France, where Mr. Delenat first successfully flowered the plant. Therefore its name is Paphiopedilum delenatii. Several other plants flowered and eventually they all died – excepting the one plant that was growing in the care of Vacherot & Lecoufle, still a prominent orchid nursery in France. This firm was able to get seed and thus propagate Paph. delenatii and all the plants which had been in cultivation until recently can be traced back to the “French Lieutenant’s Orchid”. It is admirable that by their successful cultivation of the initial meagre importation, Vacherot & Lecoufle had preserved this most desirable plant for such a long time. Because it was only in 1991, that more of this species were found and from then on, the local farmers collected thousands of these slipper orchids to sell to orchidists. Eventually, the authorities closed down the wholesale collecting. In the meantime, the “new” Paph. delenatii has found its way into many collections. It is not always as consistent in appearance as the line-bred earlier plants. There are larger and smaller flowers in lighter and darker rose, white ones with pale yellow lips and slightly different shapes in leaves and flowers. The collectors even found a similar species. It is called Paphiopedilum vietnamense. The hybrid between these two species is quite spectacular and is called: Paphiopedilum Ho Chi Min.
Paph. delenatii does not grow on limestone as do the other slippers of the parvisepalum group. It grows in granite, with a warm wet winter and a warm, dry summer. In captivity, it prefers rainwater. Flowering time in the wild is around January.
Ingrid Schmidt-Ostrander - Canadian Orchid Congress