Phal Little Emperor II

[BikerDoc5968]

Some of you have seen my recent post picturing my Little Emperor 'peloric'. Last summer I removed a keiki growing from an old flower spike from the 'mother' plant. This is the flower growing from the keiki... and as you can see it is very normal looking.... just thought this was interesting because I would have expected the flower from the keiki to be just like that of the mother plant..... so much for what I know!

[Bird Song Farm]

As I understand it, pelorics can be pretty unstable.
They can change from year to year, or as in your case, the keiki is "ordinary" while the mother is peloric. I'm sure also, that "once peloric, always peloric" is the case with some....
One of those sweet surprises in the orchid world.
But then, what do I know, nuttin, I know nuttin!

You tickle yours so often I'm surprised they don't open laughing! Of course, the smile they bring to you and all of us here is close to that.

Al

[dabblin-n-orchids]

fascinating . . .i thought keikis were essentially "divisions" in a manner of speaking and should be genetically identical. I also thought peloric flowers were a genetic trait . . ..I will be interested to see which of these the experts will disprove.
either way IT'S GORGEOUS

[Dorothy]

Mike - this article about Lip Service is very informative
Peloric Orchids

[dabblin-n-orchids]

oooo thank you . . .fascinating but being my obnoxiously curious self I am no longer satisfied with well some times they are peloric . . .then sometimes not . . ..I feel a research project coming on . . . .YAY a project that doesn't need resources I don't have . .. . unless i wanted to experiment on a peloric orchid
I really enjoy how this site often leaves me with more questions than answers . . .it's fun

[orchideric]

Peloric characters in Phalaenopsis are controlled by regulatory genes in the epidermis. The keiki you removed was produced without the active epidermis gene (the epidermis was regenerated from internal tissue and not propagated from the old epidermis).

Think of a room with the light switch turned on (= peloric). The keiki is an identical duplicate of the room with the light switch turned off (= not peloric) or without any light switch whatsoever.

Hope that helps, Eric

[Ranchnanny]

Doc Peloric or not its beautiful love the color..

Sheridan

[BikerDoc5968]

Certainly educated me.... thanks

[dabblin-n-orchids]

so lemme see if i understand . . .it is genetic but is only expressed in the epidermal tissue. (and flowers are i am assuming epidermal tissue) Keikis are produced from a deeper tissue (stem perhaps or is it produced from a meristem?) and because of this fact does not contain cells with the expressed gene. Is there any way to induce the expression of the gene chemically. Since every cell in an organism is genetically identical and how those genes are expressed determines the type of cell it would stand to reason that many orchids could be latently peloric and some external factor induces it's expression. So this keiki could rebloom peloric . . . .right? Oh I just realized we are talking about phals so is peloricism (if that's even a word) caused differently in different genera of orchids?

[BikerDoc5968]

External factor.... maybe 'cause I've read where some researchers have attempted to 'force' peloric changes with irradiation...all very interesting but probably well beyond the contents of my aging calvarium to comprehend!