Cycnodes chlorochilon in bloom

[Bud]

Presenting : Cycnoches chlorochilon 'Green' x 'Yellow'

Cycnoches are epiphytic lowland orchids in the Tribe Cymbidieae, Subtribe Catasetinae. They are closely allied to Catasetum, Mormodes, Clowesia and Dressleria. The name Cycnoches is derived from the Greek words ‘kyknos’ meaning swan and ‘auchen’ meaning neck and is in reference to the thin arching column of the male flowers. They are found from Mexico down through Central America into the Amazon Basin of South America. They have cigar shaped fleshy pseudobulbs of several internodes topped by a few thin heavily veined large leaves. The pseudobulbs themselves can be from approximately 8 inches tall to more than 20 + inches tall. As a general rule, the taller the plant, the thicker the pseudobulb. The flowers which are produced on the apical portion of the pseudobulb can be single or up to as many as 30 + on an inflorescence. But sadly, I had only one bloom on the first time I have posessed this plant. The other buds have blasted. They can range from about an inch in size to over 6 inches. The inflorescence can be erect to arching to pendulous. Each pseudobulb, depending on the species, can produce one to several spikes with some producing up to 6 or more. The flowers are fairly long lived especially when compared to Catasetums and many are extremely fragrant. You will need to smell them yourself to decide on a description. My flower smell sweetly spicy to me.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Cycnoches or Cycnodes?

Cycnodes is an intergeneric between Cycnoches and Mormodes (Cycnoches x Mormodes).

Cycnoches is the natural genera.

There is a species called Cycnoches chlorochilon.

But your plant actually does appear to be the intergeneric cross Cycnodes. So, I guess the question next is...

Why is there a species name attached to an intergeneric hybrid?

[Bud]

Catasetinae
Phillip: If we look at two closely-related intergeneric hybrids of Cycnoches and Mormodes which make Cycnodes (Cycd.). In my opinion(I may be wrong), Cycnodes are among the best of the Catasetinae intergeneric hybrids. I think that the combination brings features of the two genera to the progeny which offers improvements over the parents. For example, I am not really certain why, but in a good Cycnodes, the combination of the ventricose lip of the section Cycnoches species - Cycnoches warscewiczii, etc. - and the usually folded lip of the genus Mormodes produces a flat lip in the progency as can be seen here in both flowers. Other good features of Cycnodes in addition to the flat lip are the heavy substance of the lip from the section Cycnoches; Cycnoches parent, the brilliant variety of colors among the various hybrids which comes mainly from the Mormodes parent [Cycnodes Wine Delight (Cyc. lehmannii X Morm. sinuata) is an example], and the well-arranged sepals and petals.
As for my Cycnodes chlorochilon
Cycnodes (chlorochilon x Jumbo Puff)Let me explain why the Cycnodes is labeled the way it is...I've already explained to you how the name Cycnodes breaks down. The "chlorochilon" portion is the part that's tricky. That's actually part of the name to a species plant. That plant is called Cynoches chlorochilon. Again, notice it is not a Cycnodes, it is a Cycnoches ("Swan Orchids"). There is a big difference....Cycnoches chlorochilon has a pendulous inflorescence with several large, star shaped, yellow-green flowers. They're really cool.
"Jumbo Puff" is another Cycnodes, so when in reference to this particular parent plant of the cross, it would look like: Cycnodes Jumbo Puff. So, to write out the names of the orchids involved in the cross in this way:
Cycnoches chlorochilon x Cycnodes Jumbo Puff
But since the intergeneric hybrid only involves the genera Cycnoches and Mormodes, it can be generally called a Cycnodes. So hence:Cycd (chlorochilon x Jumbo Puff)The fact that the hybrid still mentions the parents of the cross in: maybe its name means that it is either not a registered hybrid or it hasn't yet been assigned an official registered grex and cultivar name. This has to be very clear and understandable in order for me to understand what I have.
The general guidelines for growing the Cycnodes are:
Intermediate to warm (55 F - 95 F).
Bright shade to moderate indirect bright.
Moderate to high humidity (50% - 80% is adequate).
Moderate to good air circulation.
Another important feature:
The members of the sub-tribe Catasetinae have a very distinct feature...
Each plant carries flowers that are either male or female depending on the cultural conditions. My flower currently in bloom in the pictures is a male.
Rarely does each plant carry both male and female flowers.
Unless there's a genetic mutation, each flower usually does not contain both male and female parts. Each flower either has male parts, or they have female parts.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Huh...go figure. The breeder stuck an intergeneric genus name with a species name.

That'll confuse people for sure.

I'd rather them just call it Cycnodes (Cycnoches chlorochilon x Cycnodes Jumbo Puff) instead of Cycnodes Chlorochilon.

It might be a fun thing to name a plant in such a manner for the breeder, but for the collector that's a potential nightmare. Can you imagine a person who just got into growing Catasetinae and trying to research their plant? I'd bet they'd get a rude awakening to find out there's a Cycnoches chlorochilon AND a Cycnodes Chlorochilon. Talk about forcing collectors to nitpick when referring to their plants!

---------- Post added at 08:20 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:11 PM ----------

I think Cycnodes Chlorochilon could quite possibly be an actual registered cross, I'm not too sure about this.

[Bud]

Thanks for the heads up Phillip...
I am sure it is registered...I was forced to research about my plant because of you!
Mine is an old plant...probably 3 yrs old in my care; so it must be 2 yrs old when I first got it

[RJSquirrel]

nice flower the smell of one should be nice..About 20 or 30 of them blooms will knock you out...it spicy medicinal fragrance..Not sweet and not overly harsh but very oily strong overtones. Mine bloomed with 3 blooms and no leaves . 3 blooms I can actually keep it inside without making me feel ill..Mine spiked 3 times this year...

[gnathaniel]

The RHS doesn't seem to have a registration for a cross between Cycnoches chlorochilon and Cycnodes Jumbo Puff, and there's also no record for a Cycnodes hybrid registered as Chlorochilon. If your plant is the cross between Cycnoches chlorochilon and Cycnodes Jumbo Puff, Bud, please label it that way until it has a registered name. Calling it by the name of just one of the parents isn't accurate and is likely to cause confusion.

--Nat

---------- Post added at 03:34 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:04 PM ----------

Oh, and great flowers, Bud! I really like Catasetinae and would like to grow more of them. Pretty cool that it's got a nice fragrance, too. Good growing!

--Nat

[WhiteRabbit]

lovely!

[Bud]

Thank You RJSquirrel !
Thank You, Sonya !

@Nat...Cycnoches chlorochilon and Cycnodes Jumbo Puff; is just an example I cited as per my research in the net...my plant was tagged: Cycnodes chlorochilon but it didnt give the parents: it only said it is a cross of the yellow + green...so... if you are saying that the name in my tag is not registered and there is no parent provided by the seller: I deduced that my plant is a NOID!
and not until the seller gives me the correct names of the parent or correct name of the orchid coming from the breeder...
and I intend to email the seller about this
*but...for the meantime: I will abide with what I have in the tag.
I am still calling this plant: Cycnodes chlorochilon

[ingse]

The label should have said something like this, and this is just an example when a hybrid is properly labeled :Cycnodes Taiwan Gold (Cyc. chlorochilon X Cycd. Jumbo Jewel (Morm. badia X Cyc. haagii ).

Sometimes the vendors are not bothered with this, maybe because they think nobody cares and just want to make a "big" profitt as soon as possible.