Rhynchostylis coelestis
Rhynchostylis coelestis is a species of orchid native to Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam. The specific epithet "coelestis", derived from the Latin caelum meaning the sky, heavenly, refers to the blue floral colouration. Description. These epiphytic herbs produce distichously arranged, hard, deeply channeled, arched leaves up to 17 cm long and 2 cm wide. The branched stems may reach up to 10–25 cm in height. Between 20 and 50, fragrant, white, pink or blue flowers, which are 2.2 cm wide, are produced on densely flowered, erect racemes. The spur is flat, but the distal half is curved forward. The  chromosome count of Rhynchostylis coelestis is 2n=38. Taxonomy. Motes disputed this species position within the genus "Rhynchostylis" and places it within "Vanda". This is however not currently accepted. He argues this species position is largely based on the morphology of the long, finely pointed anther cap. According to him the other aspects of morphology place it within "Vanda", specifically the deeply channeled leaves with a praemorse apex, the erect racemes, the long column foot akin to section "Flabellata Vanda" species and the occurrence of side lobes of the labellum, which are not present in other "Rhynchostylis" species. In addition he  differentiates the shape of the spur, which is not borad and conical in "Rhynchostylis coelestis". The higher degree of successful hybridisation with "Vanda" species is also noted as an argument for this species displacement from "Rhynchostylis". Pollination. Pollination occurs during daytime through bees.