Phalaenopsis equestris is a charming species orchid. It is used in orchid breeding to reduce the size of the flowers and at the same time (hopefully) increase the number of blooms. Note the apricot coloured lip and that equestris starts with a small e (code for a species orchid)

Mini phals, hard to define, Smaller than the usual??. Posted a picture in another thread hereabouts where the flowers are about half an inch across. That is a positively a mini.

Here is a result. Flower sized reduced, Plant size much the same, makes more than one flowering spike most years.
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Phal. Nancy Am x equestris

In case you decide to explore this more, you may also encounter plants that have a clonal name in quotes ie Phal equestris 'River Bend' which, as I have learned on this forum, are clones made from selected specimens of the species that have been bred to have good form, or color. They are still of the pure species, but they have been selected, whereas a plain old Phal. equestris is simply an anonymous plant of the species that may have variable shape, color, size, bloom habit etc...

You may also encounter plants that have the name Phal. equestris var ____ where in the blank you have things like alba, aurea, etc... which indicate particular color forms of the species found naturally.

Something useful to remember in terms of general scientific nomenclature is that anything with a lower case name following the genus (ie Phalaenopsis equestris, Cattleya forbesii, Laelia lundii) are species. Anything with a capitalized name or a name in quotes following the genus is a hybrid of some sort.

Hope you enjoy mini phals!! I'm just starting to get involved in these...they are both cute and rewarding.

There is an FAQ on orchid naming stuff that is worth a read.

Hi, Counselor. Calvin's information on species labelling and the selection of superior cultivars is very useful.

Phal equestris is listed in (my outdated) Orchidwiz as having 491 F1 *lst generation) offspring. That's just phals where it's directly one parent. There are surely zillions where it's a grandparent. So it's been used a lot for breeding.

It's used (along with three or four other species) to increase the number of flowers and also sometimes to add a central pink blush, as in Brother Spring Dancer, a multi-flora with a bright pink center that was being offered everywhere last year.

There are 83 selected awarded cultivars of equestris. (That's a huge number of awards, btw). Equestris that got CCM's (certificate of cultural merit-- ie superbly grown) have branching spikes with 100 or more flowers.

As someone above mentioned, it's used a lot to create multifloras-- the phals with lots and lots of flowers on branching spikes. It's one parent of a phal named Cassandra (equestris x stuartiana). Cassandra itself has 21 awards and 203 F1 offspring.

One of the most famous (and beautiful) multifloras is Timothy Christopher, itself with beaucoup awards and constantly used in breeding multifloras. It is Cassandra x aphrodite, so equestris again is a grandparent. Timothy Christopher is right now being bred with all sorts of big flower phals. Bred with big waxy flowers, you increase the number of flowers, and get heavy substance and a good-size flower.

Cassandra is also one parent of one of the absolutely most drop-dead gorgeous multifloras, Nobby's Amy which has a beautiful shape, pink blush and often a lovely yellow lip. So equestris is a grandparent there as well. A Nobby's Amy with CCM will have 60 or more flowers. It, too, is being bred with the big waxies to increase the number of flowers, and I expect lots and lots of gorgous phals from this type of breeding.

You can google these to get an idea of what these look like if you're interested.

The multifloras tend to have smaller leaves than the big-leaf type, and often bloom in a 3" pot, but I wouldn't call them exactly "minis". Can't be beat for beauty/inch, tho.

If you are interested in multi-floras, you should do great with any that have one of the above for parents.

Mini-phals, I would take that to mean ones with small to tiny leaves, and often tiny flowers less than an inch. These are being bred right now from tiny-leaf species that are just recently being bred. It's all pretty new and I haven't studied them much.

I adore the multifloras, as you can tell.

Thanks for all of the info!