brassidium mutant

[gravotrope]

Brassidium fangtastic Bob Henley "kaimu bay"

Does anyone know if this is expressing polyploidy? It wasn't exactly what I expected.

[PaphMadMan]

When the petals of an orchid flower change to resemble the lip, like these, the flower is called peloric. There are other forms of peloric flowers, but this type is fairly common in orchids of all kinds. It has nothing to do with polyploidy, or ploidy at all. It is a developmental problem that may or may not be genetic, may be triggered by environmental conditions at a sensitive point in development, and may or may not happen again the next time the plant flowers. There is no way to know if your plant will always do this until you observe future bloomings.

If this was my plant I would be very happy, and hoping it is permanent. It doesn't always turn out so attractive.

[WhiteRabbit]

Yes, it looks peloric, and it's stunning!
I hope it continues to bloom that way for you - unless you don't like it, but I'm sure there would be people interested in buying it from you if that were the case

[gravotrope]

At first, I was angry since I haven't ever spent $30 on a plant. But now it's growing on me. According to the grower, they cloned because of this trait, even though not all of the flowers on the same spike had expressed it (they didn't even have a photograph of the cultivar). Now it would seem to be a permanent thing, since all of the blooms have gone this way, and to the growers statement that this was the intended result. The pseudobulb, by the way, is 9" with three leaves on top. It really is a monster, so that is why I was thinking there was some ploidy in action.

Do you think this is a trait that would be passed on, or just an epigenetic blip?

I was thinking of crossing it with a different intergeneric to create something called a "taxonomist's nightmare" bio-art installation situation...and I could either go fragrant purple-sepaled miltassia shelob, or red (miltassia x odontocidium) that smells like melting paraffin wax.

[PaphMadMan]

The only way to find out if it will breed true is to try. Pelorics often do, just look at all the splash-petal Catts, but it may not be the case here. If I was picking a cross to make I'd choose a plant that didn't have Brassia influence, something with rounder flowers and different lip form. More interesting to see the effect on a different flower form rather than more of the same. Whatever cross you make I'm sure there's a market for seedlings.