Bc. Theresa Ricci with Pale Flower. Issue?
 

Hi all!

My Bc. Theresa Ricci opened 2 days ago. First time blooming. Attached is a pic I took tonight.

The flower has a wonderful scent and seems to have a nice size, but the flower seems very pale for a Theresa Ricci. Is this common or an issue?

And, yes, the thought has crossed my mind that this is mislabeled.

Really I’m just worried if my teenaged Theresa is doing okay.

First image is tonight. Second is first day it had opened.

Thank you for any help or suggestions.
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Edit: I added the images. This may help ID the plant, too. to see if it's mislabeled.

Again, to all, thank you.

I cant see your photo but there are a few possibilities.

It could be mislabeled

Since I'm guessing it's a seedling, it could just be a pale version. Seedlings are a mixed bag and there are no guarantees.

Many plants have changing color as they age. Sometimes it gets darker sometimes lighter. 2 days is young, keep your eye on it and see if it morphs

If the flower has red pigmentation, warm temperatures and low light can decrease the intensity.

Oh, and it's tag says, "Bc. Hippodamia 4N x C. aclandiae 4N". If that helps with the mystery.

I definitely see why you think it's mislabeled. I do see the influence of aclandiae, but it should be 75% and it looks like there is even less than a typical Bc. hippodamia.

It is within the realm.of possibility that it is accurately labeled but it almost seems like they crossed it back to
Nodosa instead of aclandiae.

Can you contact the grower and double check?

P.s. I don't think the plants being tetraploids would affect the plant in this way. I could be wrong

I think it could be correct. Brassavola nodosa is extremely dominant for flower form and color. A 4N parent would contribute twice the number of chromosomes.

Seca, do you think that even though both parents are 4n nodosa could be twice as dominant somehow? I'd love to ask Roy tokunaga if there is any strange whole genome breeding thing going on here.

Orchidwiz has a bunch of photos of Bc. Hippodamia, and they are all over the map in terms of color. Many are very pale and have nodosa-like shape. So depending on which Hippodamia cultivar, and which aclandiae cultivar, a pale flower is very possible. There are also several photos of this cross, and they're also highly variable with regard to color. If genetics were simple 2+2=4, the hybridizer's job would be much easier. But when the dice roll, the results still are not all that predictable.

Look at photos of a wide range of Brassavola nodosa primary hybrids. They look almost the same no matter the other parent. It doesn't even matter whether the other parent is a big floofy unifoliate or a hard, waxy flowered bifoliate Cattleya. With an equal number of chromosome sets from each parent, I wouldn't expect this to change.

It would be interesting to see 3N Theresas where the 2N parent was the Brassavoloa and the 4N the aclandiae.

I know you can get almost anything with these crosses but this one is extreme. 75% aclandiae and it looks like it has about 5-10% influence. This flower is exactly what i would expect if somehow it was back crossed to nodosa instead of aclandiae.

I would be very curious so see what the sibs look like...