Can somebody please lend Al some pollen from their Vandopsis gigantea?
K Barrett
"Al" wrote in message
...
Here's a good coffee story:
"The Trouble with Being Ernestara Fire Storm"
The Entra. Fire Storm 'Leesburg' is one of my favorite plants. Here is a
link to a picture of the flower:
http://www.orchidexchange.com/Photos/web0027.htm Fire storm is identified
as the capsule parent and a neat looking Phal. Ken Peterson is the pollen
parent on this page. I think this will be a fun cross with a lot of hot
intense color possibilities. Plants from this grex are growing with a
very
Phal like habit. Most are still young and small. My largest plants have
only 4 inch leaf spans still. There are only a few flasks left. Most are
in compot or individual 2.5 inch pots.
As Ray and other have pointed out an Ernestara is comprised of species
from
the three genera; Phalaenopsis, Vandopsis and Renanthera and this
particular
grex, Fire Storm, is (Phal amabilis x Vandopsis gigantea) x Renanthera
monachica. When you look at this plant it is easy to see the Vandopsis
and
Renanthrera genes in the growth habit of the plant: Currently it has
succulent monopodial growth that is very vanda-like and stands about 20"
tall and has a dozen pairs of leaves. When it blooms it is very easy to
recognize the two species from these two genus in the flower. What is
hard
to see is any evidence of the Phal. amablis grandparent. This does not
mean
it is not there. Inter-generic genetic being what it is it seems easy for
most genes of one species to be lost due to uneven recombination of genes
that still produce viable offspring, especially when you get two or more
generations away from the specific cross in question. But again, I barely
understand genetics so I can't say for sure.
One of the parents in my Entra. Fire Storm is one of the many hybrids
floating around in the orchid world with suspect parentage. If I look
more
than 3 generations back in any of my favorite plants I can usually find
somebody who tells me there is a mistake in parentage and it is not really
what it claims to be. It is getting annoying even as it is often
educational to listen to what they have to say. In the case of Entra.
Firestorm, the parent Phdps Arizona Star (Phal amabilis x Vandopsis
gigantea) is the plant with suspect parentage When I use the word suspect
it means every time I mention my Entra Fire Storm on line somebody new
writes to tell me that it probably doesn't have any Phal amablis in it
because Phdps Arizona Star didn't really have any. Some people give
examples from personal experience with the plant and others offer only
lore.
I don't know personally because I have never seen examples of Phdps
Arizona
Star and never sought out the RHS slide of the flower required when the
grex
was registered. I also believe my comments above about interspecies
genetics is true at the primary level. It is possible that many important
genes from the Phal did not pair up during reproduction with the vandopsis
and are just floating around as unpaired allies in the cells and therefore
not expresses obviously in the phenotype.
I bring all this up because I have used Entra. Fire Storm 'Leesburg' as
the
capsule parent in crosses with Paraphaleanopsis species and produced
seedlings which are growing well in flask. They look vandaceous in habit
at
this point. One of them is listed on my website:
DPE0912 Entra. Fire Storm 'Leesburg' x Pps. Sunny
As a general rule it is not possible to combine Paraphalaenopsis x
Phalaenopsis directly. You don't get viable seed when you cross species
of
these two genera together. Generally. Theoretically it is possible to
achieve a plant with both genera in the background if you introduce them
through an intermediary. On one level my (Entra. Fire Storm 'Leesburg' x
Pps. Sunny) proves this. But then there is that pesky issue of the
lineage
of Phdps Arizona Star to contend with. For purposes of RHS registration
the
true lineage of these plants is irrelevant. When I register this hybrid
it
will be registered as an as yet unnamed interspecific hybrid comprising
(Phalaenopsis, Vandopsis, Renanthera x Paraphaleanopsis) because the RHS
is
following the paperwork trail created by the registration process and this
paperwork trail says Phdps Arizona Star has amablis as a parent.
I have acquired both species necessary to remake Phdps. Arizona Star.
Now
all I have to do is repeat the experiment. Phal amablis is easy to bloom.
My Vandopsis gigantea seems to be another story. They may be too young
yet.
All are still under a foot tall and they grows to be a very big plant.
The
Vandopsis are a cool growing group and their genes may be helpful to
introduce cool temperature tolerance into a Phal breeding line.
Have a good day,
Al
"Ray @ First Rays Orchids" wrote in message
...
A bit more digging shows:
Ernestara Fire Storm = Phalandopsis Arizona Star (Phal amabilis x
Vandopsis
gigantea) x Renanthera monachica.