Laelia albida questions

[ArronOB]

Originally Posted by Maryanne

Hello Arron:
I have a Laelia albida, and it does not look like yours. I purchased from Santa Barbara Orchids, which is a reputable source, so I have confidence that mine is the correct species. It is not a named clone, so is a representative of the species. Check out the orchidspecies.com listing for L. albida.
The photo of yours makes me think it is a hybrid, and perhaps was mislabeled. It looks like it may be a cross of L. albida and L. anceps? Just a guess.
"Albida" implies it is an 'alba' color or white...the species can have a pale pinkish form too.
Whatever it is you have it is worth haning onto and enjoying. The bloom is attrative, so picture that multiplied with 3 or 4 spikes and several blooms to the spike. You will forgive it for not being what you thought you purchased.
I grow mine mounted and it takes temperatures of near freezing to 90F plus, tolerates drying out.
Good luck with your little beauty!
Maryanne in WMass

Interesting, Maryanne. Can you tell me what feature it is that makes you think it’s not an albida?

---------- Post added at 10:04 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:57 PM ----------

Originally Posted by SouthPark

Arron - one link I found leads to 'AON' as a possible source of the white-coloured albida you're looking for. Maybe you can send an email to 'AON'.

This link page 5: Click Here

Even if they're out of stock, they could put you through to somebody to get one of these.

That’s where I got it from. About 3 years ago they were doing a good number of cool-growing Laelia/cattleya species and primary hybrids and I bought quite a few. They don’t seem to have them any more, which is a shame.

[Maryanne]

Hello Arron:
The bloom features to me resemble the arrangement, petal/sepal shapes, and deeper color of L. anceps or maybe L. gouldiana (I grow these two as well). The sepals of L. albida are longer in proportion to the petals. check this link:IOSPE PHOTOS


Please understand, I'm just giving you my opinion as an amateur grower. I'm not a PhD botanist : -)

Where is Roberta? she's growing quite a few Laelias, so she may be able to give a more expert opinion. : -)

Happy growing!
Maryanne

[Roberta]

I think Maryanne identified it... I'm thinking L. Finckeniana (L. albida x L. anceps). These tend to be more vigorous than either parent - mine grow like weeds. And make lots of flowers. Check out those on my website Cattleya, scroll down to L. Finckeniana, there are 3 examples. Actually, Fred Clarke thinks that the "other parent" on the first one might be something other than L.albida but uncertain. The lip is a little different on that one... several people in my area have that one as L. Finckeniana, but it could be something else with L. anceps. The other two are L. Finckeniana for sure (SVO origins)

(I think this error gets made on labels more than occasionally... I bought a "L. anceps var. guerrero", the only variety of L. anceps that I have had problems with, and was stoked when it got ready to bloom. When it did, very definitely L. Finckeniana, probably with L. anceps var. guerrero as one parent)

Of the ones on my website, I find the L. albida x L. anceps var veitchiana (the coerulea form) intriguing... Where did the pink come from? Clearly the intention of the breeder was to get a coerulea... a mostly white L. albida (maybe some color in the lip) and a whiite-with-blue-lip L. anceps produced a nice dark pink/lavender L. Finckeniana. Oh well...

[SouthPark]

Originally Posted by ArronOB

That’s where I got it from. About 3 years ago they were doing a good number of cool-growing Laelia/cattleya species and primary hybrids and I bought quite a few. They don’t seem to have them any more, which is a shame.

Thanks for letting me know about that Arron. Hopefully one of those workers there may have some leads on who might be able to sell you a flowering sized and confirmed L. albida.

Since AON was selling L. albida plants for $10 at that time, then hopefully they WERE/ARE L. albida. I'm thinking surely AON (or somebody that they know) could get an L. albida for you - especially since you did the hard yards and waited this time for your orchid to flower. Some duty to care for customers they sold to for sure.

Also - some close-up shots of the flower, at around 1024 x 768 picture size ------ will allow for a real good look at this one.

[SouthPark]

I will try to find one of these one day!

[Jeff214]

I have a L. Finckeniana cross of an albida and an white anceps with a coerulea lip, that came out very pink. (L. abida 'SVO' HCC/AOS x L. anceps coerulea 'Ft. Caroline' HCC crossed by Marble Branch Farms). When I bought this one, I had assumed (incorrectly) that the offspring would be white as well. I don't know if an L. albida x sib always gives white, but if so, that may suggest that your "L. albida" might be a hybrid (like a L. Finckeniana) as others have pointed out.

Also the first bloom was pretty sad looking on mine. Improved on the second!

[Roberta]

Well, L. albida x sib is still L. albida, the species, And so would be likely to breed true, with a white flower, some color on the lip. So where did the pink come from? L. anceps var. veitchiana (of which 'Fort Caroline' is a very good cultivar) might have a "typical" ancestor recessively in there someplace. I leave it to breeders who are far more knowledgeable than I am about the genetics involved, to make sense of it. It's pretty clear that the goal of this cross was a coerulea L. Finckeniana... but nooooo..... didn't work out that way.

Jeff, just to make it even more interesting.... yours looks like it might also have a peloric L. anceps (var. roeblingiana) hiding in there someplace - that light flare on the petals. So the ancestry of line-bred L. anceps varieties is likely to be complex (and since it's all L. anceps, all undocumented except in breeders' notebooks, which are, of course, private)

[SouthPark]

Arron's flower appears to be quite a dark pink too ..... or getting toward violet type ..... not just a lighter type of pink. Although - could be my monitor seeings heheheh ...... and would like to see detailed close-ups of Arron's flowers.

[ArronOB]

Close up

[SouthPark]

Geez ..... that's a nice one Arron.

Arron ----- just noticing the shape of the petal tips - as in more rounded that in pics of L. albida. But on the other hand, I haven't seen enough pics of various confirmed albida. Although, from what is available - it just seems L. albida has pointier tips, less rounded petals - maybe.

Nice flower anyway!!