I bought this as
Stanhopea wardii when I first moved to Florida. Now that it's blooming it smells like
Stanhopea wardii, but doesn't look much like the other pictures online of this species. My husband nailed the smell though.... it's white TIC TAC® candies, really strong like a whole crate of them cracked open on a hot sidewalk. I sent pictures to the place I purchased it from to see if they can ID it, and they said it was
wardii, so I guess that settles it? There are a few
Stanhopea species that look fairly similar such as
occulata, dodsoniana and
whittenii, plus hybrids. The smell seems to give it away though.
Either way, I friggin' love it!
The buds ended up growing up and over the side though, not down, which is why they're a little oddly placed.
Mmmm, TIC TACs....