Thanks to everyone who responded. It would appear that my phal hybrid
is indeed a spotted pup (good analogy, BTW).

In article , Kenni Judd
wrote:

Some species vary considerably; some not much. Culture can produce
variation; e.g., a Schomb. tibicinis grown in a northern shadehouse is going
to have longer spikes than one grown in full Belizean sun. Light, in
particular, can also influence flower color, more so in some plants than in
others; for example, Epc. Frances Dyer, for us, blooms out a muddy lavender
when grown bright; same exact plant [not a sibling, the same plant] blooms
out a beautiful deep grape-purple when grown shadier.

39" sounds very short for a tibicinis spike, to me, but orchids have taught
me to be very leery of the word "impossible" [along with "always," "never,"
"all," and "none"]. Ours tend to range from 8 to 12 feet; I think I could
get them down to 6' if I carted them out in early spring, to a full sun area
...

Hybrids can be _extremely_ variable, depending on the parentage. Think of
mixed breed puppies -- in a litter of 6, you may have a white, a black, 2
browns and couple of parti-colors. If the two parents are very similar, the
offspring are usually fairly consistent; if the two parents are very
different, the offspring are also more likely to differ substantially from
one another.