Species plants awarded?

[Helen]

Hi everyone....

Is it possible to have a species plant awarded?
i.e. L.purpurata 'Tipo'

One of these days I'll catch onto these naming conventions!
thanks

[Jerry Delaney]

All species orchids can be awarded and in fact can be considered for awards for which hybrids are not eligible. However, if you are talking about L purpurata 'Tipo', this cultivar has already been awarded. It received an AM of 80 from the American Orchid Society on June 13, 1994. The AM/AOS actually should be on the tag since a quality award becomes a part of the name. That does not necessarily mean that another L purpurata 'Tipo' can not be awarded. It could be upgraded to a higher AM award (scoring above the original 80) or to an FCC with a score of 89.5 or higher. To give you an idea of what you would need to shoot for on this flower, the awarded plant had 5 flowers on one inflorescence with a natural spread of 15.2 CM. This cultivar would also be eligible for consideration of a cultural award which is somewhat misleading since these awards are given to the grower, not the plant. While the original CCM awarded plant can be labeled CCM/AOS, divisions of the plant should not carry this recognition. Good luck with you growing.

[shakkai]

Two related questions...

1) Does that mean that any species plant with a clonal name has been awarded at some point?

2) Is there an easy/free way to look up the information about the awarded plant?

[Jerry Delaney]

No Shakkai. There are many orchids, both species and hybrids, that bear a clonal name that have not received any type of award. I have given clonal names to some of the hybrids that I have made and most of them have never left my greenhouse. It provides a convenient way for me to keep the individual seedlings separate from each other. Also, when a plant with a clonal name is awarded for the first time, the exhibitor has teh option of giving it a new clonal name. To answer your second question, There are a number of ways to research for awards. The RHS had a data base of awards, the AOS publication "Awards Quarterly" lists all AOS awards, Wildcatt data base includes a list of awarded clones and I'm sure that there are any number of others that list awards from various parts of the world. One nice thing about the RHS data base is that it has color pictures where Wildcatt has none. It is also priced to reflect that addition!!

[goodgollymissmolly]

Awards,pedigrees, cultivation information, and pictures are available in OrchidWiz. Awards and the official awards pictures are available on the new AQPlus from AOS.

AQPLus replaces the printed Awards Quarterly effective January. I find both programs to be extremely beneficial. While AQPlus has a more limited content, it is cheaper and has the official photos (don't get too excited about that because some photos are good and many are not). Both programs provide for updates during the year.

You should have them!! They provide very important information to the hobby.

Jim

[shakkai]

Thanks, Jerry! So, all awarded clones have a name, however, not all named clones are awarded. OK.

Re: looking up award info... one more question - sorry if this is rather basic, but I've never shown any orchids, so I'm not aware of how all the awards work... Are the RHS awards and the AOS awards separate? I know that AOS gives its own awards - as do other national orchid societies. And the RHS has its own award system. But the databases, do they list all the awards? Or only those ones given by that organisation?

[shakkai]

Helen, So sorry for highjacking your thread! But your post got me to thinking.... Thanks for bringing this up! And if you want me to move this discussion to another thread, just let me know.

Jim, Thanks for your reply as well! So, AQPlus, Wildcatt, OrchidWiz, RHS... Do you think the RHS database would be the best one for me in the UK? I'm sure we get AOS awarded clones, but are these going to be the ones I'm likely to see available at orchid nurseries here?

[goodgollymissmolly]

Good point. Sorry to get so US centric. It's all too easy to get that way. AQPlus is an AOS only awards program and it only addresses plants (including species and natural hybrids) that have won AOS awards. OrchidWiz has data on all registered cultivars and all species, however, it appears to provide data only on AOS awards. It is still of great value to you because of the other data it contains (pedigrees,cutivation, registration information) that it contains.

I do not have Wildcatt because it had been allowed to lapse and not include up to date data. If I'm wrong I apologize, but that is why I chose to buy OW. Maybe somebody else could better advise you on that.

I think you are correct in needing an RHS database. Good luck.

[shakkai]

Thanks so much for the clarification and additional information - I really appreciate it. OrchidWiz does sound really useful, especially the pedigree info. That would be really handy to have on hand for reference and research.

I went to the RHS site and I see they have a CD Rom available which contains awards 1841 - 2002 - is this the one??

[Helen]

Thanks to everyone who replied...extremely useful info! and Great questions!
Very much appreciated!
Helen
p.s. don't worry about the hijacking!