It is often called the chocolate orchid as it is supposed to smell like chocolate. I wanted to have one mainly because of the fragrance. I finally fund it in a regular shop and got it home hoping it is the one. In the market it didn't have a fragrance so wasn't sure if this is it. The plant looked nice and healthy and the flowers are gorgeous anyway.
So where is that famous fragrance??
Oncidium Sharry Baby
Well.... my one ain't smelling like chocolate at all!
And I am actually glad about it.
Because my one smells like vanilla butter cookies! Take that! :D
I didn't catch any fragrance in the shop when getting it a few years ago, because all the aroma activates on a sunny day. Especially if some sunrays hits the flowers. Boy.. it fills up the room with the sweet fragrance like no other plant I have. It is amazing!
I did show a bit of it not so long ago, in a post about Tahoma Glacier one. The flowers are a lot smaller, but the flower spike can produce dozens of them. The one I have here is rather small comparing to what it can do.
Additionally each pseudobulb can grow two of those (one on each side). As the plant gets bigger and grows few of those bulbs a year there can be hundreds of those little flowers opening in the same time. Or at different times of the year which mean you can enjoy them for a very, very long time!
I noticed that the summer flowers have more white spots on the lip (it's the bottom petal) than the winter ones. Could be caused by the temperature or light (or lack of it). I don't mind. Both are nice.
My plant is few years old and this year two of the bulbs bloomed one after another. This is the second one you see here.
After the blooming is done, new bulb will start to grow. And just as the spikes, they can grow on both sides slowly multiplying and spreading.
I will have to repot this one this spring. It is already in a much larger pot than the one we normally get in shop with a new orchid. But the bulbs are touching the sides and there is no more room for new ones.
It is slowly becoming a giant of a plant! Of course I could split it into two... but the bush of green leaves is quite impressive.
The only problem is that I start to have trouble finding place for it.
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Shot with Nikon D5500 + Sigma 105mm lens
All photos and text are my own.