John Pastoriza-Pinol

Paphiopedilum x sanderianum 'Screaming Eagles'

watercolour on Arches 300gsm paper

76.00 x 56.00 cm

Paphiopedilum sanderianum is a rare species of orchid endemic to north-western Borneo. First discovered in 1885, the orchid became renowned for the remarkable length of its petals, which can measure over 1 meter long. Although Paphiopedilum sanderianum has been used as a parent in a number of crosses, none of the resulting hybrids have so far matched the extraordinary lengths of this species' petals.  After this rare orchid was rediscovered in the wild by Sheila Collinette in 1982 in Gunong Mulu National Park, scientific institutions, botanists, plant historians and commercial growers all wanted samples of this rare orchid. All this attention drew the attention of CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora). The pressure of over collecting and black market trade of these plants highlighted it’s of urgent need of protection.  Some plants did fetch more than $25,000.00 each. Nowadays, wild collected plants are banned from international commercial trade, including their pollen, flowers, seed pods and leaves.

Paphiopedilum x sanderianum ‘Screaming Eagles’ is a cultivated hybrid  and this plant was painted from a specimen grown by an orchid specialist who previously worked for the National Tropical Botanic Garden in Hawaii. The National Tropical Botanical Garden is located on the island of Kaua’i and overlooks the Lawa’i Valley, the home of McBryde and Allerton Gardens. The NTBG Florilegium Society is a group of artists from around the world who meet once a year to document significant plants growing in the gardens. This work was started during the 2018 session of the National Tropical Botanical Garden’s florilegium project. The specimen was perfect as all the blooms where open at the time of painting where normally, flowers open gradually. A study of this orchid also features in the ASBA Handbook of Botanical Art Techniques, released March 2020 

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