Searching for Epicattleya photos.

[JungleMel]

Here's a little album I put together quick. Please excuse how unruly it looks, it needs repotting and a clean up, but I haven't gotten to it yet.

Epicyclia Serena O' Neill - Album on Imgur

I don't have more pictures of the flowers, but according to when I posted a picture on Instagram it bloomed last back in May here. So you'll have to wait a bit for spring if you want close ups of flower structures.

If you'd like a picture or close up of anything in regard to the plant, let me know and I can take some more later in the week.

[orchidsamore]

you will find that probably all the old name epicattleya were not made with reed stem Epis and most have been reclassified to other sub-families

[epiphyte78]

Not sure if you're still interested, but I put together a gallery on Flickr of crosses between reed-stem Epis and non-reed stems. I learned that growing reed-stems from seed is easy and would like to know whether the same is true of their crosses with non-reeds.

Some of the crosses aren't too shabby... such as Epc Fireball. A decade ago quite a few people had it but then it quickly vanished. My only theory is that it inherited the need for warmth from its reed-stem parent... Epi cinnabarinum.

Does anybody happen to have either Epi cinnabarinum or Epc Fireball?

[FairyInTheFlowers]

Thank you for the album!!!! It's quite evident that reed-stems are dominant in nearly every aspect. It looks like one will have to look to F2 crosses to see the fun begin.

[Dollythehun]

Cody, did you see the NOID Epicatt that Kim posted a couple weeks ago? It was under that title. Stunning.
Epicattleya NOID

[epiphyte78]

Originally Posted by FairyInTheFlowers

Thank you for the album!!!! It's quite evident that reed-stems are dominant in nearly every aspect. It looks like one will have to look to F2 crosses to see the fun begin.

One problem is that there are no longer any commercial growers that are working on these types of crosses. I talked to H&R Nursery in Hawaii and they said that few of the crosses took. And when they did, they often didn't produce very many viable seeds. Plus, the demand wasn't very high.

I've tried to persuade a few commercial growers to reconsider these types of crosses but I haven't had much success. So if we want to see if there's any treasure, we'll have to try and find it ourselves.

Something that should make the endeavor a whole lot easier is that reed-stems grow easily from seed. There's no flasking required. So the challenge is just coming up with the seeds.

I've pollinated my reed-stems with pollen from some of my non-reeds but so far haven't managed to get any viable seed. One issue is that I don't have many types of reed-stems. Plus, I don't have many of their closest relatives.

Since you're in Canada, one cross that I'd highly recommend is Barkeria lindleyana x Epidendrum stamfordianum (Bardendrum). That nursery is in Canada. They do ship to the US but have a $150 dollar minimum requirement. Otherwise I'd buy the cross myself.

I think that Barkerias and Epi stamfordianum are fairly closely related to reed-stems. So if you used the Bardendrum pollen to pollinate some reed-stems, then in theory, there might be a higher chance that a pod will form with viable seed. Hopefully you would be able to germinate the seed without having to flask it. I doubt any of the seedlings would be very impressive but they might be more compatible with less closely related orchids.

If you get a chance you should check out this paper. The diagrams display some Cattleya alliance species grouped according to their DNA. One of the species is the reed-stem Epi ibaguense. Epi pseudepidendrum is closely related so, in theory, there's a higher chance that crossing them will produce viable seed.

A decent amount of crosses have been made with Epi pseudoepidendrum. By far the most common is Epc Rene Marquez. Maybe its pollen can be used to produce reed-stem seeds that can easily germinate without flasking.

There are lots of different combinations to try. Ideally we can form a network of hobbyists that share pollen and seeds with each other. Being able to germinate the seeds without flasking would be immensely beneficial.