Does Pleione forrestii grow in Vietnam?

[Paul Cumbleton]

I am trying to find out about specimens of Pleione forrestii said to come from Vietnam. These are sometimes sold as P. forrestii var. Vietnam or P. forrestii ‘Vietnam’ or simply as “from Vietnam”. I wondered if anyone has any information that could prove these specimens actually grow naturally in Vietnam? Vietnam is a long way from its current known area of distribution in Western Yunnan/northern Burma. I wonder if in fact these plants come “from Vietnam” only in the sense that they are sold by suppliers in Vietnam. I know that Vietnamese plant suppliers often send out collectors into China to gather plants for sale and so these plants could easily originate in China. The authors of the Flora of China state that although it had been noted by someone that P. forrestii occurs in Vietnam, they were unable to confirm this and could find no registered collections in any herbarium to prove it. I have located on the web one picture of a group of plants actually taken in Vietnam and said to be P. forrestii – but it is clear from the photo that these are actually a pale yellow form of P. grandiflora. So has anyone ever seen the true P. forrestii in Vietnam themselves, or have any evidence that it actually grows there? I would be most interested to hear.

Paul

[SteveC2]

You need to talk to Slug Killer on here.  Pretty certain that is where these plants originated from.  I think I remember David's explanation of the name as Vietnam being the source of his seed but it would be better if you got it from the horse's mouth.

[Slug Killer]

Hi Paul,

I've bought Pleione forrestii, Maculata, praecox, grandiflora and saxicola in Vietnam at a local market. However when asking questions, most of which were lost in translation, it could not be established where they were from originally. Asian people in general (my wife is Thai) think it's better to make something up than admit to not knowing and 'loosing face' as they call it.

The plants I have which were flasked from my original purchases, do tend to be smaller than those from China but then so were the parents. I also find they do better and don't suffer from sudden death but again it may be down to my original purchases. I have also come across what looked like forrestii, maculata and praecox in Laos but never bought any as it was to long before I would return to the UK.

Chen Yi did of course sell some listed as Var Vietnam but who knows with her what they were and where they came from. She probably just used normal forrestii when the other ran out. Apparently someone said she has given up and now lives in Canada. There must however have been some reason behind why she originally called the Forrestii var vietnam.

David

[Maren]

Hi Paul,
I have a reply from Prof. Leonid Averyanov of the Komarov Botanical Institute, St. Petersburg. He has been mapping the Vietanamese flora for the last 20 or so years and is an expert on orchids. He is not convinced either, I have forwarded his comments by email.

[ashley]

Is it possible to summarize the gist here?

[gw]

Hi Paul,
               I came across this reference whilst looking at photos of P. Forrestii on the internet and thought it might be of interest in respect of this discussion.

Daniel J. Hinkley .Com Northern Vietnam March 2016.  Which describes and supplies photos of what appear to be
P. Forrestii growing in northern Vietnam

           Regards Geoff Wilkinson

[Paul Cumbleton]

Hi Geoff,
Thanks for this, but I have seen this reference and the plants pictured are clearly not P. forrestii but a form of P. grandiflora,

Paul