On Tue, 05 Apr 2005 10:36:03 -0400, Rob Halgren
wrote:

Mick Fournier wrote:
Pat,

My whole business is devoted to preserving and perpetuating the absolute
best of species. Cattleya species are especially important to me... it is
hard for me for to adequately express just how upset I am at this moment.

Oh Mick, you know I like to push buttons. I must have
found one. I
don't know about your Cattleya species, or what your breeding program is
like. And devoting your life to cattleya species is an admirable thing,
more people should be as committed to various orchid genera.

But, my point was that there has been a lot of line breeding in
cattleyas (and phalaenopsis, and paphiopedilum, and anything else that
is worth having). It is my contention, however, that line breeding of
any species leads to results that are not typical of a wild type
population. In fact, due to abnormal selection pressures (big, flat,
color), you end up with a final product that can be very distant from
the original species. Heck, right now I have two Paph sukhakulii that
have flowers that are twice as big as anything you would find in the
jungle, and far better colored. And I love them to death. But they
don't represent the species all that well.
But Mick, before your aorta pops, I'm not making a value judgment about
your plants. Any species orchid is worth keeping, line bred or not.
And the highly selected ones enhance the popularity of the species,
which is always good. But, from a purely genetic point of view, it is
probably good to also keep as many of the 'less desirable' clones as
possible, or at least the ones that represent as much of the natural
diversity as possible.

Ok - I agree with the theory Rob is talking about. But I also
know that we are not the experts on what is or is not lost in
this type of breeding.

Not long ago it was reported that a pair that both displayed the
recessive (desired) characteristic were breed and the resulting
population had 1/4 or 1/3 that reverted to the 'absent' dominant
character. This character had been "breed out" of the parents
and should not have been available to surface. Mother Nature
still has the top hand in all of this.

When we breed to intensify color or any other characteristic we
are in effect hybridizing to create a more beautiful species.
Yes, I would do it if I could. It is the nature of the beast
(man) to selective breed what he wants to see in his plants. As
long as we say species x species is still species we are going to
'beautify' the species. Heck, I would love a C. aurantiaca that
did not self before I could enjoy the color and line. I am all
for species that carry the desirable characteristics.
SuE
http://orchids.legolas.org/gallery/albums.php