Laelia albida x Laelia anceps

[Fairorchids]

Teaching moment: The natural hybrid has an 'x' between the genus and epithet, which is all lower case = Laelia x finckeniana, while the man made hybrid has no 'x' and the Epithet is capitalized = Laelia Finckeniana.

Pre-freeze, I had L. x finckeniana 'Kennedy' AM/AOS (first photo). I am currently on a waiting list to get another division.

I recently obtained a piece of L. Finckeniana 'George' HCC/AOS from Waldor. Despite it being only a 2 PB + new lead plant, it still produced 12 flowers on the inflorescence (2nd photo).

[isurus79]

Very nice! Are these scented?

[RoseSD]

Originally Posted by Fairorchids

Teaching moment: The natural hybrid has an 'x' between the genus and epithet, which is all lower case = Laelia x finckeniana, while the man made hybrid has no 'x' and the Epithet is capitalized = Laelia Finckeniana.

Pre-freeze, I had L. x finckeniana 'Kennedy' AM/AOS (first photo). I am currently on a waiting list to get another division.

I recently obtained a piece of L. Finckeniana 'George' HCC/AOS from Waldor. Despite it being only a 2 PB + new lead plant, it still produced 12 flowers on the inflorescence (2nd photo).

Are natural hybrids general more valuable than man made hybrids?

[Grautier]

That is a beautiful hybrid indeed! Well done!

[Fairorchids]

Originally Posted by RoseSD

Are natural hybrids general more valuable than man made hybrids?

It is a question of supply and demand. Newly awarded plants carry a high price tag, but as more divisions are sold off, the prices come back to earth. Some plants grow quickly*, others do not. And, if a nursery decides to meristem propagate a plant, it immediately brings the price level down.

* in early 2019 I purchased 8 Cattleya seedlings of the same cross from SVO, all in 3" pots. As they bloomed, I selected 3 as worth keeping.
Of these, the two best are now in 6" pots, while the 3rd has grown into one 6" pot, one 5" pot, and 6 divisions in 4" pots in the same time.

[isurus79]

Originally Posted by RoseSD

Are natural hybrids general more valuable than man made hybrids?

It really depends on the buyer. Some people place much higher value on natural crosses or wild collected plants of high quality. Some people prefer the nicest flower, which is often line bred plants from a nursery. There are some species and natural hybrids that are awardable without line breeding.

[Shadeflower]

Originally Posted by isurus79

It really depends on the buyer. Some people place much higher value on natural crosses or wild collected plants of high quality. Some people prefer the nicest flower, which is often line bred plants from a nursery. There are some species and natural hybrids that are awardable without line breeding.

This is so true. There are some people that really detest orchids getting crossed. It makes little sense to me. They say that the natural selection gets muddied but honestly what does it matter whether 1000 years ago a walkeriana variety in nature had mediocre petals and through selectively breeding the best with the best better petal shapes have been achieved by man.
I do not see how that is such an orchid taboo for some people.

To me it is about how the final orchid looks like. If a different cross gets bred in to it to achieve that then that is fine by me.

As one would expect to then be able to find orchids "untouched by man" can be difficult.

I will let that be their problem. If it were up to those people then hardly any orchid breeding would take place, prices would skyrocket and there would be a big lack of flowers in people's homes...

My best orchids so far are my hybrids, maybe that is because hybrids are easier to flower but they have been bred to flower more and with more flowers too. And they get mass produced so are theoretically a bit cheaper than a good specimen sized species.

[SouthPark]

Totally with you on those points Shade. On this planet - we have relatively large numbers of fine hybrid people. And fine hybrid plants. I also like your quote of 'untouched by man' ------ which these days is probably like:

" untouched by 'man' " (along the lines of one small step, one giant leap).

Evolution and natural selection and advancement - right on. Totally agree.

I like both species and hybrids.

[Grautier]

There is obviously little understanding of the matter.

If you just want some'thing' that pleases your particular sense of beauty, well, than you do not need a name for it, nor to know that it is an orchid or whatsoever at all. These 'things' usually come with an instruction advice and the caveat ' not for consumption'.

Our dog is a 'thousand milk' as they are called over here, and we love him the same.
But if I wanted a species plant, than I wouldn't buy a lookalike nor an 'enhanced' one for that case. That has nothing to do with 'untouched myths'. On the contrary, I would not buy an orchid poached in the wild.

[Shadeflower]

I do understand you Grautier but I do have to ask why does it matter?
Like you will never be able to do a DNA test so does suspecting an orchid is not a natural species really ruin things that much?

For a breeder maybe sure but even then more his ego than anything else really..

It's ok though, I like all orchids equally as much although maybe a little preference for some of my really vigorous hybrids

One niggle I have I will admit is how so many of the fragrances are getting bred out of the modern mini varieties. I think the fragrances are part of what I like about orchids a lot. I do like some of the mini's but why use so much sophronitis parentage which usually eliminates the fragrance in its offspring.. So yeah we all have our niggles I suppose