Re: Hybridization trends

Jeffrey Michael Stein (steinjef@student.msu.edu)
Thu, 16 Jun 1994 15:03:04 -0400 (EDT)

>
> I've been thinking alot about orchid hybrids lately. Everyone is always
> trying to make a bigger flower, different colors, etc. It then dawned on
> me that I had no idea what the trends are in CP. So what are the trends?
> Bigger pitchers? Or is everyone working to make nicer flowers on these
> interesting little plants that we are growing. Have any intergeneric
> hybrids been created (ie Sarrs and VFT, etc)? This is common in orchids
> but I have no idea how common in general.
>
> Comments?
>
> JOHN

The only selective breeding that I have seen has been related to pitcher color
and shape. I've never heard of a CP being bred for flower qualities.
Intergeneric plants are an interesting topic, but because it's harder to
interbreed plants in different families the chances of a Sarr/VFT is nil. I
wonder if anyone has tried Sarrs with Darlingtonia? That may be the most likely
canidate for success. Another area that could be followed would be cell fusion.
Then you could have interfamily plants (even interkingdom). But doing cell
fusions and getting the new cell callus to grow and differeniate would be a
major task and I doubt if the new trap structures would even be functional.

JMS