what are parents of Den. jan orenstein?

[jason woodrue]

Hi,

Just picked up (for free) a division of Dendrobium jan orenstein. What are the parent plants of this hybrid?

In fact i am not sure it is "jan orenstein" - could be jon orenstein?
It is even possible that it is a species: Den. aphyllum and that it is a species bred by jan orenstein.

i think it is a hybrid however, something like Den. lodgessii x Den. aphyllum - but i dont really know???

thanks
mike smith

[trdyl]

There is a Dendrobium Jan Orinstein registered in 1979. It is a hybrid of Den. aphyllum and Den. primulinum.

[jason woodrue]

Thanks for that info.

Now to complicate matters:
On the IOSPE website, Den. aphyllum has a "shifty" entry...

Den. aphyllum = Den. cuculatum = Den. pierardii
And I assume this species IS the warm to hot growing parent in the cross.
while
Den. primulinum is the warm to cool grower in the cross.

thus providing a hybrid with a greater temperature range.
I guess that is sometimes why hybrids are created to make to cross easier to grow?

[Ray]

Be careful how you interpret such information.

The fact that you have a plant that grows warm-to-cool does not necessarily mean that the plants will grow well over the whole range. Often it means that some examples of that particular species have been found growing under warm conditions, while others have been found growing cool.

Thus, a cross made between warm-to-hot and warm-to-cool species is more likely intended to give you a resulting plant that is happy in intermediate conditions, not a tolerance to the entire range.

Unfortunately, even that is not cast in concrete - of a population of plants grown from a single seed capsule, you will end up with a bell-curve distribution of all traits, and the breeder will select for the combination of traits that he desires, often dumping the rest.

[jason woodrue]

Thanks for answering my hybrid questions over here in Dendro land as well as in the Cattleya forum. Yes, I do believe i am overinterpretting the hybridizing motivations of others.

I once saw a talk by an Australian grower who spoke of "tropicools" (tropical growers x cool growers) I thought he was talking about breeding orchids that had a greater range of temperature tolerance, but I am sure you know what your talking about - It is probably more likely he was just breeding intermediate growers.