Home |
Search |
Today's Posts |
#1
|
|||
|
|||
wild to cultivated changes?
This is not off topic even though the beginning may sound like it is, so
please bear with me: I recently heard that when wolves are tamed, one of the side-effects of taming is that their fur turns a lighter color. I forget exactly what the explanation was, but I think it was something like the same chemical substance being responsible for anxiety/fear/wildness in character as well as darkness of fur. Leap in thinking from wolves to orchid plants ... This made me wonder about some of the effects that cultivation has on orchid species. I would guess that a cultivated orchid species might grow bigger and live longer than its wild counterpart of the same species, etc. That at least would seam logical to me, since the cultivated species are likely to be fertilized more regularly, and the environment is more likely to be adjusted to be closer to ideal conditions than might occur in nature, if the grower knows what they are doing. Also I know that plants within the species won't be exactly the same, and the orchid grower might decide to cross two orchids that are in the same species and share some trait that does not occur in all orchids of this species to try to promote this trait which might have gotten lost in the wild (where natural selection or chance might have caused this trait to not be propagated). Any other ideas? Either based on your experience, your knowledge, or your hypothesizing on this subject? I would be interested in finding out more. I wonder if there are any effects that cultivation has had on orchid species that are less obvious/logical (similar to the lightening of fur in wolves, which I would never have guessed if I had not learned about it). Are there any good examples of orchids where the same species in cultivation tends to be quite different in some significant way from its wild counterpart? Thanks, Joanna |
#2
|
|||
|
|||
wild to cultivated changes?
with regard to wolfs, cats and dogs, a word to learn about is neoteny. Used
with domestic cats and dogs the idea is that adult cats and dogs retain a lot of personality traits common only to the puppies and kittens of similar wild species. I guess it has made them easier to handle over the long generations they have been associating with people. I saw a science show on the Discovery channel once when I couldn't find a channel showing Star Trek reruns. Big subject with regard to orchid species judging. A lot of wild orchids can't hold a candle to their line-bred cousins in captivity with regard to judging standards. Judges are taught to consider the species normal habit when judging it, but the process can almost not help but include certain pre-judgments of what a beautiful flower looks like. Flame me, it's okay. I can handle it. "Orchids that have been bred in captivity for generations grow better in pots than wild ones." That's quote but not mine. :-) Smart breeders do not use plants for breeding if they are prone to disease, so one would think that domestic populations that are generations old might be more disease resistant. On the other hand, the environment we provide for them is so protected that one would also thing they would not live long if some well meaning person were to repatriate them into their native habitat. I'll bet you get lots of replies to this topic. Al ne·ot·e·ny NOUN:1. Retention of juvenile characteristics in the adults of a species. 2. The attainment of sexual maturity by an organism still in its larval stage. J Fortuna" wrote in message ... This is not off topic even though the beginning may sound like it is, so please bear with me: I recently heard that when wolves are tamed, one of the side-effects of taming is that their fur turns a lighter color. I forget exactly what the explanation was, but I think it was something like the same chemical substance being responsible for anxiety/fear/wildness in character as well as darkness of fur. Leap in thinking from wolves to orchid plants ... This made me wonder about some of the effects that cultivation has on orchid species. I would guess that a cultivated orchid species might grow bigger and live longer than its wild counterpart of the same species, etc. That at least would seam logical to me, since the cultivated species are likely to be fertilized more regularly, and the environment is more likely to be adjusted to be closer to ideal conditions than might occur in nature, if the grower knows what they are doing. Also I know that plants within the species won't be exactly the same, and the orchid grower might decide to cross two orchids that are in the same species and share some trait that does not occur in all orchids of this species to try to promote this trait which might have gotten lost in the wild (where natural selection or chance might have caused this trait to not be propagated). Any other ideas? Either based on your experience, your knowledge, or your hypothesizing on this subject? I would be interested in finding out more. I wonder if there are any effects that cultivation has had on orchid species that are less obvious/logical (similar to the lightening of fur in wolves, which I would never have guessed if I had not learned about it). Are there any good examples of orchids where the same species in cultivation tends to be quite different in some significant way from its wild counterpart? Thanks, Joanna |
Reply |
Thread Tools | Search this Thread |
Display Modes | |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Forum | |||
34,000 wild and cultivated plants | Gardening | |||
PHOTO OF THE WEEK, Cultivated Iris | Gardening | |||
Wild V Cultivated | United Kingdom | |||
Where are department store orchids cultivated? | Orchids | |||
wild to cultivated changes? | Orchids |