What A Shame!

[Jerry Delaney]

It seems that 20 or so years ago, you had no problem finding a fair number of what were usually referred to as "mule ear Oncidiums". I think that they have finally separated these along with the "rat tail" Oncidiums to the genus Trichocentrum. It seems such a shame that this group of beautiful orchids have fallen out of favor. They are relatively easy to grow and they provide an exceptional show while blooming. Many are still commercially available so maybe they will once again become common place in collections. Many of the intergeneric crosses using the species of this group produced interesting but sterile hybrids which resulted in a dead end in a breeding line. Maybe this is why dealers stopped handling them. The pictures are of Onc Florida Gold 'Merkel'.