Cattleya guatemalensis

[PaphMadMan]

Originally Posted by kavanaru

Laura, Guarianthe (Cattleya) xguatemalensis is the natural hybrid between Guarianthe skinerii and Guarianthe aurantica... since it is a natural hybrids, it is written in lower case, but the "x" indicates it is a hybrid.

True, if it is a wild collected plant or bred from wild collected natural hybrid plant(s).

But if a deliberate cross was made between the 2 species then Guatemalensis, upper case G, no x.

[isurus79]

Originally Posted by PaphMadMan

True, if it is a wild collected plant or bred from wild collected natural hybrid plant(s).

But if a deliberate cross was made between the 2 species then Guatemalensis, upper case G, no x.

Ohhhh, the plot thickens!!

[Brenda Aarts]

I have this one as well, same label - first bloom for me on this one. My flowers look different from yours. I entered mine in a show in Feb an was advised that because it is a naturally occuring hybrid the plant could be entered in the species category. Found that interesting, not sure if correct technically however.

[LauraN]

Our flowers do look different.
Yours are very nice also!

[Orchidflowerchild]

Originally Posted by Brenda Aarts

I have this one as well, same label - first bloom for me on this one. My flowers look different from yours. I entered mine in a show in Feb an was advised that because it is a naturally occuring hybrid the plant could be entered in the species category. Found that interesting, not sure if correct technically however.

hooboy there was a looooot of backcrossing to the skinneri side there, n'est-ce pas?

-Cj

[Royal]

Or an alba aurantiaca was used.

[Orchidflowerchild]

Originally Posted by RoyalOrchids

Or an alba aurantiaca was used.

"alba" aurantiacas are almost always suspected of actually being guatemalensis, anyway.

Beyond that, colour and shape are very skinneri. I have a guatemalensis that is pretty clearly heavily backcrossed to the aurantiaca...


Regard:

[RosieC]

It's gorgeous.

I find all this stuff about natural hybrids and backcrossing really interesting.

Have I gathered correctly that a backcrossing of a hybrid with one of it's parents is still considered to be the same hybrid name... that could lead to even wider variation in a cross that you would get just from a single mix of the two parents... I had not realised that before.

[Orchidflowerchild]

Originally Posted by RosieC

It's gorgeous.

I find all this stuff about natural hybrids and backcrossing really interesting.

Have I gathered correctly that a backcrossing of a hybrid with one of it's parents is still considered to be the same hybrid name... that could lead to even wider variation in a cross that you would get just from a single mix of the two parents... I had not realised that before.

Well, only in natural hybrids. What develops in nature is called a hybrid swarm, where you have he two parent species at either extreme of the variability and potentially any variation between them. You get crosses back to either parent pretty readily and sometimes it can be for so many generations that it's almost impossible to tell where the species end and the hybrids begin.

In cultivation, though, backcrosses are considered new hybrids.

-Cj

[RosieC]

Thanks Cj, good to know.

So what happens if a natural hybrid is crossed with one of it's parents in cultivation rather than in the wild, does it then become a new hybrid or does it stay the same

As was said above a cross between skinerii and aurantica made in cultivation gets a capital letter as a hybrid, so do crosses of guatemalensis (the natural version) and one of the parent species stay as Guatemalensis or get called something else...

... it's a coplex business isn't it