Pamelathon!
 

Here are two original plants of Blc. Pamela Hetherington ‘Coronation’ and a mericlone. Can anyone tell which is the clone?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...shtwv0oib.jpeg

The one on the right.

Wow - I’m impressed! How can you tell?

The petals on the other two are held more horizontally than the one on the right, and the dorsal sepals, while they do recurve a bit, are flatter, and not "convex".

Shouldn't a mericlone, by definition, be identical to the original? Educate me, Ray.

I may not be the best person to respond, but on a very simplistic level, one might consider that in cloning, not all of the genetics might get duplicated precisely.

Ray is correct. There is a phenomenon known as “mericlone drift”, whereby clones can differ from the original plant. The changes can manifest in flower form, color, growability, etc. I once had a clone of C. Earl ‘Imperialis’ that would never flower. First run mericlones from the original plant are usually good. The problems seem to arise when clones are made from clones. Anyway, I would have picked the Pamela Hetherington on the right as the original plant!

Does keeping your flowering orchids near ripe bananas shorten the flowers lifespan?

Serious question
Arron

But you said "two originals and a clone". It helped a great deal.

---------- Post added at 10:51 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:49 PM ----------

Yes, but I suggest you start your own thread in the future, instead of hijacking this one.

Ripening fruit gives off ethylene gas, which is toxic to plants.

I just had to say how beautiful they all are! :)