Date: 24 Feb 98 11:18:13 CST From: MOveson@faegre.com To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com Message-Id: <aabcdefg736$foo@default> Subject: Hybrid/cultivar naming
Richard Ellis wrote:
> I can see giving names to first generation hybrids. However, once
> one starts to cross plants that are themselves hybrids, there
> should in theory be significant variation in the offspring. I wonder
> how useful the name will be in the face of this variation. Is this
> one of those cases where there is a lot of "theoretical variation"
> but in practice all (for example) (S. x mitchelliana) x (S. x formosa)
> crosses look pretty much the same?
> On a related note. Are many of the morphologic characters of
> Nepenthes sex linked? If they are, then it seems that having
> different names for essentially the same cross (only by opposite
> sexed parents) makes sense. If not, it seems to me to only add
> a layer of unnecessary confusion.
> Anyone know how the orchid growers handle these situations?
You ask some interesting questions, Richard. As an orchid grower, maybe
I can help to answer them. First a little background for those who
might not be familiar with hybrid naming:
Orchid hybrids and ( to some extent) cultivars have been registered
since the 1800s with a central registry service in England. The first
person to grow _and flower_ a new hybrid can register the cross with
this central registry. For example, Paphiopedilum rothschildianum x
Paph. philippinense is called Paph. St. Swithin. Hybrid names are
distinguished from species names in three ways: First, they are
capitalized; second, they are not italicized; and third, they are not
Latin names (although rule #3 did not exist at first, and there are some
early hybrids that are Latin sounding, like Paph. Houghtoniae).
Hybrid names stick to any plant made from parents that are of the same
species (or hybrids) of the parents of the original registered plant.
This is true regardless of which plant is the pod parent and which is
the pollen parent, though some orchid growers feel that the pod parent
tends to be the more important influence on characteristics of the
offspring. In other words, all plants that are Paph. rothschildianum x
Paph. lowii _or_ Paph. lowii x Paph. rothschildianum are Paph.
Julius, regardless of the quality or characteristics of the parents.
This presents some interesting problems, which you have noted. For
example, one popular cross is Paph. haynaldianum x Paph. primulinum,
which has been registered as Paph. Henrietta Fujiwara. This hybrid was
originally made using albino parents, so Henrietta Fujiwara flowers are
expected to be green and white. I happen to have one (blooming right
now, in fact) that was made with non-alba parents. The flowers are
similar in shape to others I have seen, but are yellow, pink, and tan
with some purple spotting. To avoid confusion, I describe the plant to
other growers as a "non-alba Henrietta Fujiwara" (try saying that ten
times fast). The short answer is that species may be variable, but
hybrids (as you guessed) are much more so. As you also guessed, the
variability increases as hybrids become more complex.
Orchid growers partially solve this problem by naming cultivars. If a
plant produces particularly nice flowers, the grower can give it a
cultivar name, which is listed in single quotation marks, like this:
Phalaenopsis Orchid World 'Bonnie Vasquez'. If this plant is awarded by
one of the recognized orchid societies (such as the American Orchid
Society), then the cultivar name can also be registered with the central
registry, and the name then appears with the award listed after it like
this: Phal. Orchid World 'Bonnie Vasquez' AM/AOS (meaning this plant
received an Award of Merit from the American Orchid Society). This
particular plant has been extensively tissue cultured, so anyone who
wants one can just call up the maker of it and get one. This makes it
possible to get a hybrid that is exactly what you expect.
Now let's say I wanted to make a cross between this particular plant and
a species, like Phal. venosa, and let's also assume this cross has
never been flowered (I have no idea if this cross has been made). I
could make the cross and sell the seedlings labelled Phal. (Orchid
World 'Bonnie Vasquez' AM/AOS x venosa). People buying my plants would
have a good idea what the offspring might look like, because they've
seen 'Bonnie Vasquez' and they know what Phal. venosa looks like. But
as you pointed out, the offspring of these parents will be somewhat
variable. For this reason, many orchid growers will buy a "community
pot" of the offspring, which might contain 15 or 20 tiny seedlings.
They will then grow the seedlings, flower them out, and keep the best
ones. They might then give cultivar names to these good ones, perhaps
try to get them awarded, and so the cycle continues.
Perhaps the biggest problem with this system is that, absent knowledge of the
grower and/or the cultivars used as parents, you might pay a lot for junky
plants. For instance, Phal. Orchid World is a very popular complex hybrid
that was line-bred for several generations, using high-quality parents to
produce a really nice, large, yellow flower with deep red barring. Several
Orchid World cultivars have been awarded. An unscrupulous grower might
recreate Orchid World using inferior parents, then offer them for sale to the
public. The flowers may look nothing like 'Bonnie Vasquez' or any of the
other Orchid Worlds offered by reputable growers. The solution to this
problem is to know your growers, and only buy from those who are reputable.
You might ask the grower about the quality of the parents of the subject
plant. Were they awarded cultivars?
In reality, this is not much of a problem, because it is so difficult to
propagate orchids that few people bother to do it except with high-quality
parents. So though a lot of variability exists, most of the plants end up
producing pretty good flowers.
>From what little I know of CP, it seems they are much easier to
>propagate than
orchids are, so this may become a bigger problem in the CP world. I
think it is important for this reason to have a reliable system for
registering CP cultivar names, and the problem of variability in hybrids
can be minimized by such a system.
The system of naming and awarding orchids has had negative effects, as well,
including high prices for plants and snobby attitudes among certain growers.
But this post is already four times as long as I intended it to be. Happy
growing (and naming).
Mark Oveson
Faegre & Benson LLP; Denver, Colorado
Phone: (303) 820-0681; Fax: (303) 820-0600
moveson@faegre.com
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