This is the exceptionally beautiful and exceedingly rare white form of the above collected on Doi Inthanon (Thailand) at the same time as the nominal form. However, this stock originates from a selfing of the
original introduction by Paul Cumbleton, the seed of which was passed to a Dutch nursery before small numbers were released via a German distributor. The offspring of this selfing can vary in form and quality but this particular clone is virtually identical to its wild-collected parent. Occasionally referred to as ‘praecox Alba’, this is more correctly a ‘Semi- Alba’ as it retains some purple pigmentation. This variety has the same elongated pseudobulbs but lacks the vigour of the purple form, only rarely producing two flowers per stem. The difficulty of successfully growing and flowering it explains its extreme rarity in cultivation and it should only be attempted by the most skilled and experienced of growers. The Holy Grail of Pleione cultivation!