Cattleya warneri

[RosieC]

Originally Posted by Rosim_in_BR

Rosie, we are all here to share our experiences, so, please, don't hesitate asking whatever you want! If I don't know the answer, someone on the board certainly will!
When you cross two plants of a given variety, say two caeruleas for example (the type species then is lavender) two things may happen: or well the progeny is composed of caerulea plants, repeating the parents, or well the progeny is lavender. In this second case we say the plant got back to the type (lavender). Dominance and recessiveness are behind this and in general one cannot say what the progeny will be, unless the parents' genetic behavior is well known through previous crosses.

Ok, I think I understand that. So in the above example there is a lavender recessive gene. A cross can end up with a full load of the lavender gene and so it shows up in the flower. When this happens you say it has 'returned to type'. If there is any of the dominant gene in the cross it will be the standard caeruleas.

Is that right?