Paphiopedilum callosum

Indisputably one of the best -known Venus's shoes - a gorgeous and lively species that is quite easy to cultivate. It used to be imported in large numbers and ,grown for cut flowers ,same as the hybrid P. Maudiae . It is marked with high variablility of the intensity of the marbling of its gray -and -green leaves and of the shape and color of its gray -and - green leaves and of the shape and color of its flowers . The flower spike is up to 14 in / 35 cm long and bears a single flower with brown -and -purple lip. P. callosum var. subleave has a beautifully enlarged upper sepal colored in an attractive combination of white ,wine-red and green . The albinic form (var. sanderae) is one of the parents of the hybrid P. Maudie . Grow the species in a standard mix consisting ,for instance , of stripes of peat moss,granulated Styrofoam ,peat and beech wood shavings. If the roots of the repoted plants are healthy , you can also add a little beech soil or some other type of light soil . Plants whose roots are week or damaged ought to be planted in an inert mix of peat and styrofoam .P. callosum requires a temperate environment ,a slightly damp substrate and medium -deep shade through out the year . It put forth its flowers irregularly in the coarse of the whole year ,mainly between march and June. It come from Thailand and Combodia.