Doritis pulcherrima var.

champorensis 'White'

Doritis pulcherrima, literally the beautiful Doritis, is a small dainty orchid that is easy to grow
and if grown en-masse, can be quite breathtaking. In the wild, they are terrestrial or lithophytic,
found along streams and by the coast where the humidity is reasonably high. They can be found
growing on leaf litter and rock crevices but are equally adept as an epiphyte, as long as they get
enough moisture.

The light requirements can vary from dappled sunlight to full sun if slowly acclimatised. Under
stronger sunlight, the leaves grow smaller but take a more fleshy appearance and may become
marked with purple spots. They also flower more freely when exposed to stronger light. For me,
Doritis pulcherrima is an easy orchid that can stand a lot of neglect and abuse.What I am
showing here is a Doritis pulcherrima var. champorensis 'White' or alba.

Doritis pulcherrima var. champorensis 'White'. This white peloric form of Doritis pulcherrima
has attractive yellow edged petals that somewhat resemble the lip.
This peloric form of Doritis pulcherrima is often referred to as var. champorensis. There are
variations to the varietal name, some give it as champornensis or chumporensis. As with the
usual Doritis, they come in both the normal pink-lilac and the white version or alba (technically
not a true alba, for the yellow coloration of the lip is still present). Doritis pulcherrima var.
champorensis is more showy than the usual D. pulcherrima, as the other two petals becomes
‘deformed’ and takes on the colouration as well as the shape of the lip.

Close-up on Doritis pulcherrima var. champorensis 'White'. The lateral petals have the yellow
markings similar to that of the lip. The shape of these petals are also more spear-shaped and
fleshy like the lip.

In orchids, the peloric forms can range from mild, where the petals take on some of the
colouration but not the shape of the lip, to full peloricism, where you get three lip structures
instead of one (no normal petals). In D. pulcherrima var. champorensis, the petals take on the
colouration and some of the shape of the lip. Hence the petals appear bigger and showier than a
normal D. pulcherrima.
The lip of Doritis is interesting, as there are yellow calli on the claw of the lip as well as side
lobes that have yellow blotches, looking very much like the pollen mass of a flower. These
pseudopollinia (false pollen mass) possibly play a role in the pollination biology of the flower.

The green arrow points to the calli on the claw of the lip whilst the blue arrows indicate the
yellow coloured tip on the lobes of the lip. These structures are supposed to look like pollen
masses (pseudopollinia) that is used to entice pollinators to the flowers.

According to Jin et al. (2012), Doritis pulcherrima is a con artist, i.e. it employs deceptive
pollination (generalised food-deceptive orchid). The flower is nectarless, and the pseudopollinia
(pollen mass) are not collected (or rather, is not food) by visiting pollinators. They merely look
like co-blooming flowers that will reward the bee with pollen/nectar, thus tricking the bees into
visiting the flower.

Recent molecular reworking of Phalaenopsis have resulted in Doritis being considered as part of
Phalaenopsis, thus the correct name for this orchid would be Phalaenopsis pulcherrima.
However, the RHS Orchid Hybrid List still recognises Doritis as a genus for hybrid registration
purposes, thus a hybrid between Doritis pulcherrima with a Phalaenopsis will still be considered
as a bigeneric hybrid with the genus name of Doritaenopsis.

REFERENCE
Jin Xiaohua, Li Dezhu, Ren Zongxin and Xiang Xiaoguo (2012). A generalized deceptive
pollination system of Doritis pulcherrima (Aeridinae: Orchidaceae) with non-reconfigured
pollinaria. BMC Plant Biology, 12:67

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3388949/pdf/1471-2229-12-67.pdf