Oncidium Rex Van Delden x Oncidium Serendipity
This is a lovely diminutive Oncidium alliance hybrid with bright, cheery flowers and a delightful fragrance. It's proven to be a vigorous grower that appreciates ample moisture and bright conditions.
Rex's Luck was formerly classified as an intergeneric hybrid Odontocidium, in fact the tag lists it as Odontocidium Rex's Luck 'Firefly'. According to Bluenanta, this is equal parts (25% each) Onc. cirrhosum, Onc. fuscatum, Onc. incurvum, and Onc. praestanoides. I'm pretty sure Oncidium fuscatum has been moved from genus to genus over the years, so this hybrid has likely been classified as several different genera over the years. I believe Oncidium cirrhosum and Oncidium praestanoides were both formerly classified as Odontoglossums.
The colorful lip and the lovely bars on the petals are what caught my attention. I looked up the parentage and based on that research I had a hunch this would be fragrant, but I could not find much reliable information online to corroborate. I'm happy to report that it is fragrant, beautifully so. It's been in bloom about a week with the last of the flowers opening up a few days ago, and it took several days before the scent was noticeable.
To me, the fragrance is very similar to scuppernong or muscadine grapes with some orange peel notes as well. It's very pleasant, and I'm surprised there aren't more references to it. Of course, the scent could change over the course of the next few days or even throughout the day, so I'll check back later to confirm. It's only fragrant in the morning, by mid afternoon all the scent is gone (perhaps that's why there are few to no references to it).
I think the only downside to this is that the flowers are a bit too heavily clustered, I'd appreciate if there were a bit more space between them. However, it's possible this is a cultural issue. For instance, the newest bulb is heavily spotted/freckled with pigment so I may be growing this a bit too bright, in which case, it's possible that in shadier conditions the spike would elongate a bit more and put more space between the blooms.
This one has very fine roots, so I grow it pretty moist. The pot is actually sitting in a plastic restaurant cup which helps hold moisture around the root system and has allowed a nice carpet of moss to proliferate. I don't let it sit in water, but the cup helps prevent it from drying out entirely. It seems to really appreciate this set-up and I may consider moving it to semi-hydro in the future.
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Oncidium Rex's Luck 'Firefly'
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