Last Thursday I fell in love with the description and picture of a paph
malipoense online, and so I ordered one and should be receiving it sometime
next week.

One thing that baffles me though are the different descriptions of this
species paph's fragrance. I have seen it described in different vendor's
catalogues as smelling of pine needles, having a raspberry scent, or an
almond fragrance. Now I know that different people have a different sense of
smell, and that different orchids may smell differently (or not smell at
all) under different conditions, and all that, ... but still, I would think
that there is a great difference between the scent of raspberries, pine
needles, and almonds, right?

What is the most likely explanation for the variation in descriptions of
this fragrance? Is it the difference in perception by different people or
difference in varieties within the species or both or neither?

Luckily, the scent would just be a nice bonus for me, and not the main
reason why I want this plant. However, these different descriptions just
baffle me, so I wonder about the reason.

Joanna

Joanna,
I think it's the sense of smell?
People who smell raspberries are wishing for some.
People who smell pine needles think it's Christmas.
People who smell almonds are just plain nuts! *G*

--
Cheers Wendy

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J Fortuna wrote:
Last Thursday I fell in love with the description and picture of a
paph malipoense online, and so I ordered one and should be receiving
it sometime next week.

One thing that baffles me though are the different descriptions of
this species paph's fragrance. I have seen it described in different
vendor's catalogues as smelling of pine needles, having a raspberry
scent, or an almond fragrance. Now I know that different people have
a different sense of smell, and that different orchids may smell
differently (or not smell at all) under different conditions, and all
that, ... but still, I would think that there is a great difference
between the scent of raspberries, pine needles, and almonds, right?

What is the most likely explanation for the variation in descriptions
of this fragrance? Is it the difference in perception by different
people or difference in varieties within the species or both or
neither?

Luckily, the scent would just be a nice bonus for me, and not the main
reason why I want this plant. However, these different descriptions
just baffle me, so I wonder about the reason.

Joanna

Joanna,
I think it's the sense of smell?
People who smell raspberries are wishing for some.
People who smell pine needles think it's Christmas.
People who smell almonds are just plain nuts! *G*

--
Cheers Wendy

Remove PETERPAN for email reply

J Fortuna wrote:
Last Thursday I fell in love with the description and picture of a
paph malipoense online, and so I ordered one and should be receiving
it sometime next week.

One thing that baffles me though are the different descriptions of
this species paph's fragrance. I have seen it described in different
vendor's catalogues as smelling of pine needles, having a raspberry
scent, or an almond fragrance. Now I know that different people have
a different sense of smell, and that different orchids may smell
differently (or not smell at all) under different conditions, and all
that, ... but still, I would think that there is a great difference
between the scent of raspberries, pine needles, and almonds, right?

What is the most likely explanation for the variation in descriptions
of this fragrance? Is it the difference in perception by different
people or difference in varieties within the species or both or
neither?

Luckily, the scent would just be a nice bonus for me, and not the main
reason why I want this plant. However, these different descriptions
just baffle me, so I wonder about the reason.

Joanna

I've never seen any description for it other than raspberry, which is what
it smells like to me. Some clones hardly smell at all, and others are quite
fragrant. I guess it's possible there could be some different variety of
malipoense with a different fragrance. With some species it is quite common
for different people to smell different things, I guess some of us are more
sensitive to certain compounds. I think there was a discussion some time
ago about this and Oncidium ornithorynchum was one of the plants where
people disagreed on the fragrance.

-danny

J Fortuna wrote:

One thing that baffles me though are the different descriptions of this
species paph's fragrance. I have seen it described in different vendor's
catalogues as smelling of pine needles, having a raspberry scent, or an
almond fragrance. Now I know that different people have a different sense of
smell, and that different orchids may smell differently (or not smell at
all) under different conditions, and all that, ... but still, I would think
that there is a great difference between the scent of raspberries, pine
needles, and almonds, right?

What is the most likely explanation for the variation in descriptions of
this fragrance? Is it the difference in perception by different people or
difference in varieties within the species or both or neither?


There is probably a bit of both. For Onc. Sharry Baby, I've heard more
than one grower indicate that they tend to smell like chocolate to the
ladies, and something else (vanilla?) to the men. It is a tendency, not
an iron clad rule, but it might represent a gender influenced trait. I
personally hate the smell of Sharry Baby, but that is an acquired
aversion. Aroma is a very difficult thing to describe, so I'm not
surprised that different people associate a given fragrance with
different things. Most people lack the vocabulary (or experiences) to
adequately describe aroma. Me too.


I had an interesting experience with Phrag. Hanne Popow - many clones
smell (to me) like raspberries. Intensely fragrant. But my wife can't
smell them at all. I took some to an orchid meeting and it turns out
that about half of the people in the room could smell it, and half could
not or could only smell it faintly. So there is obviously a human
perception component (probably genetic) as well.


I have noticed a floral (raspberry... why not...) scent to many
malipoense clones (and some hybrids). But they don't all have a scent.
So there is a variation in this species too - not surprizing. What is
invariant is the propensity for the darn things to send up a spike and
then just wait for 6 months before blooming. Frustrating.


Rob

--
Rob's Rules: http://www.msu.edu/~halgren
1) There is always room for one more orchid
2) There is always room for two more orchids
2a. See rule 1
3) When one has insufficient credit to purchase
more orchids, obtain more credit
LittlefrogFarm is open - e-mail me for a list )