C. nobilior v. coerulea 'Canaima's Diamond'

[ChrisFL]

Plant owned/grown/bloomed by Michael Sinn, although I own a small piece. Extremely rare "blue" form of the species. So rare that the variety has never received an AOS award. This flower is exceptionally flat and the cultivar is a very vigorous grower for a "blue".

Rosim, do you know, are there many of this form in your country?

[Rosim_in_BR]

Originally Posted by ChrisFL

Rosim, do you know, are there many of this form in your country?

Chris, although not a common plant yes, there are several clones in Brazil. A few breeders have been doing sib crosses or selfings, so the variety becomes little by little more available, but prices are not low still. Also, some vendors sell adult pieces of blue nobilior, but in these cases prices are salty.

[ChrisFL]

Thank you Rosim (is it Mauro?)! That's kind of what I expected to hear. There is only one person I know of in the states doing sib crossings, and that's Francisco Miranda. Do you know if the sibs regularly bloom out coerulea? My very limited understanding of blue breeding is that it's very tricky.

[Rosim_in_BR]

Yes, my name is Mauro. And you are right, blue is a tricky color to pass on. You have to discover two good clones for that. Besides blue with blue, sib or selfing, breeders have been trying blue with pure alba, blue with semi-alba and other, in my opinion, poor combinations like blue with type and blue with albescens . The best results seem to reside upon blue-blue, but even so one cannot be sure of.

[kavanaru]

Hi Mauro, do you know by chance where this clon comes from? I am just curious... so far I know, C. nobilior does not grow wild in Venezuela... but the name of the clon is a venezuelan name. Canaima is the name of the largest National Park in Venezuela, located in the south of the country and protecting part of the amazonian forest going into Venezuela.

[Rosim_in_BR]

Originally Posted by kavanaru

Hi Mauro, do you know by chance where this clon comes from? I am just curious... so far I know, C. nobilior does not grow wild in Venezuela... but the name of the clon is a venezuelan name. Canaima is the name of the largest National Park in Venezuela, located in the south of the country and protecting part of the amazonian forest going into Venezuela.

Sorry, Ramón, but I'm gonna owe you that information. I really don't know where this clone comes from. You can be sure that C. nobilior is not given for Venezuela. On the other hand, there is at least one nursery that I know in Manaus that has C. nobilior var. caerulea and the owner said to me that many orchid people in Venezuela buy plants from him. Maybe this is a clue.

[ChrisFL]

Dear Ramón, The cultivar name refers to a nursery in Ellenton, FL, named Canaima Orchids, of which Michael Sinn, the owner of this plant, is the president and owner. He hails from Venezuela and named the nursery after the national park. This nursery grows mainly high quality Venezuelan species Cattleyas, but some Brazilian species as well. So as far as I know, this clone only exists in the United States. It is the first coerulea nobilior I've seen in bloom in person, and I find it very stunning.

Dear Mauro, thank you very much for your input! The only coerulea cultivars I am familiar with (aside from this one) are 'Luar do Sertao', 'Papagaio Verde' and 'Francisco', and I'm not sure any of those are available in the states, even as mericlones. I would like to breed this one eventually with another coerulea nobilior.