First flowering for me. I bought it as an unknown Den from a lady who was
selling much of the collection she had been unable to maintain in the couple of
years after her husband's death. That's the reason for the odd growth habit -
it was hanginging on a lean when I got it, & the growth direction of the new
p'bulb was in the direction of "up".

It looked interesting - like a discolor but with much darker striations along
the pseudobulbs than discolor - suggesting possibly darker flowers. Bingo!

A couple of our ANOS judges and another expert independently identified it as a
species helix 'Pomio Brown'. I was happy.

The books indicate it is a large orchid from New Britain, growing to 2+ metres,
with robust p'bulbs up to 7 cm (nearly 3") in diameter. Don't think it will do
as well as that down here.

Helix comes in a range of colours, as indicated by the varietal names - Pomio
Brown, Mushroom Pink, Talasea Lime-Yellow.

One judge said I was lucky to have selected this variety - the only one likely
to survive in my environment. But hell - I'd sure like to try the others if I
could get my hands on them.
Dave Gillingham
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