To cope with the expected increase in mail volume during the holidays, the Philippine Postal Corporation will issue more P6.00 local - rate stamps, with 4 new designs added to the current native orchids definitive series.

1. Phalaenopsis fuscata
   Phalaenopsis fuscata has short, erect stems. The leaves are slender, ovobate, up to 30 cm long, 6 cm wide, greyish green. The few-flowered inflorescence is spreading, bent to nearly pendent, up to 40 cm long, longer than the leaves. The flowers are fleshy, shiny wax-like, about 30 mm in diameter. The margins of the sepals and petals are bent backward. The lip is three-lobed; the middle part has a central keel; the front part is shell-formed. The pollinarium has two cleft pollinia.
    
2. Phalaenopsis stuartiana
   Phalaenopsis stuartiana has a little less intensively mottled leaves compare to P, schilleriana, some plants being nearly pure green. They are green below and up to 35 cm long. The inflorescences are many-flowered, erect to overhanging, branched, and up to 75 cm long. The flowers, which reach 70 mm in diameter, are white to yellowish. The lateral sepals and the lip bear numerous brownish spots. The lip is three-lobed; the mid-lobe has a callus between the lateral lobes and in the apical part are anchor-like appendages. The pollinarium has two cleft pollinia connected to a stipe with a large viscidium.
    
3. Read more

The new definitives and official first day cover will be available starting December 20, 2004 at the Philatelic service, Rm. 203 Liwasang Bonifacio, 1000 Manila and all regional offices of the Philippine Postal Corporation.