Miltoniopsis general identification question

[astrid]

Hey everyone!

Is there some sort of evil society with a conspiracy to make it hard to identify specific miltoniopsis orchids? Normally with oncidiums, I can get pretty close to an ID, but with milts, it's like there is a secret and "they" don't want me to find out!

Do you guys have advice for IDing miltoniopsis orchids? Is this a common issue with other types of highly hybridized intergeneric orchids?

It's frustrating because I will see the same orchid several times (in the store, or in one of your collections), but no one gives me the same name for it, so I can't buy it again!

Are these particularly difficult to ID because they spent a few years falling out of popularity? I know they were (apparently groundlessly) rumored to be fussy plants so they aren't as popular as they should be.

[PaphMadMan]

Miltoniopsis hybrids are particularly hard to distinguish because there are nearly 1800 registered hybrids, almost entirely descended from just 3 species. And if they don't have waterfall pattern it may be mostly 2 species. No matter what color or pattern they all have very similar ancestry, so there is very little to make specific hybrids truly distinctive. That "same orchid" you see everywhere may actually be a dozen different hybrids including some that are unregistered, or might be one hybrid distributed under various trade names or no name rather than a registered name.

[NYCorchidman]

True.
and just like NOID phals, miltoniopsis can be highly variable within the same grex, and then different hybrids can look almost the same, hence making ID impossible once you lose (or don't have) the tag.

The only time I bought miltoniopsis with a tag showing the name was from growers directly.
None of the ones from a florist came with tags ever for some reason.

[astrid]

Originally Posted by PaphMadMan

Miltoniopsis hybrids are particularly hard to distinguish because there are nearly 1800 registered hybrids, almost entirely descended from just 3 species. And if they don't have waterfall pattern it may be mostly 2 species. No matter what color or pattern they all have very similar ancestry, so there is very little to make specific hybrids truly distinctive. That "same orchid" you see everywhere may actually be a dozen different hybrids including some that are unregistered, or might be one hybrid distributed under various trade names or no name rather than a registered name.

Well I suppose that is a good enough reason! 1800+ good enough reasons, actually!! I guess I'll just have to be careful with my favorites and save multiple divisions for myself throughout the years.

And darn those trade names! So unhelpful, haha. Thanks for your input!