Wow. I get all teary-eyed seeing this ancient posting. :)
My _P.emarginata_ is *finally* flowering successfully. This plant has
produced about five flowers previous to this one, but which have all
aborted at various stages of maturity. The flower previous to this produced
a spur and almost made it, but then aborted.
This is a very interesting flower, quite unlike any other Ping I've seen.
The basic ground plan of the flower is standard, but the petals are deeply
emarginate (that explains the name). Rob A and Jan S, you have specimens
of the same clone I believe? My flowers are very similar to the drawing in
the Ping Study Group Newsletter #4, p27, lower right flower, except the
petals (especially the two upper ones) are more deeply emarginate. Flower
colour is white with very pale lilac veins and lilac blotches on the upper
petals. The flower is small, only about 1cm across the petals.
On another note, a warning about Mexican Pings. They *do not* like standing
in water. I have about 20 varieties, and about a month ago I decided to be
lazy and instead of carefully watering the plants from above I filled the
tray they are in with a few cm of water. They are potted in 8cm pots. They sat
in this water for about two weeks. It is a good thing I had recently taken
leaf cuttings, since this experiment with laziness has cost me several plants
from rotting. Today I see that another plant, my mature _P.zecheri_, has
died. I think I have a leaf cutting that will survive, but I may have lost
this plant. Keep those plants dryish, or cultivate at your own peril!
Barry