Cattleya mesquitae

[charmbutterfly]

That's probably one of the prettiest pinks i've seen!

[catwalker808]

Rosim. I see. However, consider this. Mesquitae, as a man-made hybrid would be a first generation cross, with equal parts of 1/2 walkeriana and 1/2 nobilior. On the other hand, the naturally occurring population may be many generations along. That is to say, a chance inter-species natural cross may have occurred many generations ago, when the blooming seasons happened to overlap. It is likely that the blooming season of the first generation cross bloomed to overlap more toward one or the other of the species. If the overlap happened toward the nobilior season, then the next generation and each succeeding generation would be prone to more breeding with nobiliors. Given many passing generations, or even only several generations, the traits of the population would then gravitate toward nobilior traits.

Both the naturally occuring and the man-made crosses would have both walkeriana and nobilior, but in differing proportions. So the question would really be, what is mesquitae ... only 1/2 walkeriana and 1/2 nobilior in culture ... or the 1/8 x 7/8 or 1/16 x 15/16 or 1/32 x 31/32 in nature, keeping in mind that the proportions in the natural population may keep changing over each generation. If all we care about is that there is part walkeriana and part nobilior in mesquitae, then it is completely logical that the traits of the the man-made versus the natural populations would differ.

This is just my speculation.

[Rosim_in_BR]

Originally Posted by catwalker808

Rosim. I see. However, consider this. Mesquitae, as a man-made hybrid would be a first generation cross, with equal parts of 1/2 walkeriana and 1/2 nobilior. On the other hand, the naturally occurring population may be many generations along. That is to say, a chance inter-species natural cross may have occurred many generations ago, when the blooming seasons happened to overlap. It is likely that the blooming season of the first generation cross bloomed to overlap more toward one or the other of the species. If the overlap happened toward the nobilior season, then the next generation and each succeeding generation would be prone to more breeding with nobiliors. Given many passing generations, or even only several generations, the traits of the population would then gravitate toward nobilior traits.

Both the naturally occuring and the man-made crosses would have both walkeriana and nobilior, but in differing proportions. So the question would really be, what is mesquitae ... only 1/2 walkeriana and 1/2 nobilior in culture ... or the 1/8 x 7/8 or 1/16 x 15/16 or 1/32 x 31/32 in nature, keeping in mind that the proportions in the natural population may keep changing over each generation. If all we care about is that there is part walkeriana and part nobilior in mesquitae, then it is completely logical that the traits of the the man-made versus the natural populations would differ.

This is just my speculation.

Well, yes, introgression is common and might have occured here. I believe that doubts like that can only be cleared up with more field research.