How to name self/sib offspring?

[EmoryG]

Aloha All,

I have a couple of questions about how to properly label seed pods/offspring.

About a year ago I bought a plant of Phrag. longifolium var. hincksianum 'fernbrook' x self from Orchids Limited. The NBS/BS plant was vigorous with two major leads (each with a smaller previous growth) and when I repotted the plant it was ambiguous if these were the same plant or two individuals that were never separated. I didn't want to disturb the plant too much at the time, so I potted it up as is. Each lead produced a strong new growth and as the growths developed one side's growth was noticeably larger than the other.

Each of these new growths bloomed for me and their flowers are consistent on the spike but a bit different from each other (from one spike as compaired to the other spike). The one from the larger plant has larger flowers with more down swept petals, where as the smaller plant's flowers are slightly smaller and have a more horizontal presentation.

I would like to make seeds from this plant, if successful would the correct way to label the progeny "Phrag. longifolium var. hincksianum x self"?

Other other questions is, do y'all think this is just one plant or possibly two? I can ensure it is a selfing by only using flowers from the same spike, that way there would be no question of how to label. If they are sibs in the same pot, I would probably lean towards crossing them, since I don't want to be inbreeding too much with this line.

Thanks so much for your help.


The overall plant, (smaller growth with wider flowers on bottom left, larger growth with down swept petals top right)


smaller growth flowers


Larger growth flower

[estación seca]

You are correct about the name. You could also leave off the "x self" and it would be correct.

It is possible there are two plants. I don't know enough about Phrags to answer that question.

[Roberta]

If the flowers are different, it is likely that it was actually two plants to begin with. Seedlings fresh from flask are sometimes really tangled, so that while the intention is to put each plant in a separate pot, you end up with two together. Two plants from the same flask are not genetically identical - they are siblings, not twins. They are both the species Phrag. longifolium var hinksianuum, but neither of them is the cultivar "Fernbrook" (which is a specific plant, only divisions can carry the cultivar name). Both tags can correctly be "Fernbrook" x self , but why bother? You have two new individuals.

[EmoryG]

Thanks for the feedback. I will let each spike produce a few more flowers before I try to get a seed pod. I should have a better sense at that time if I'm making a sib cross or a selfing.