Cattleya alliance

[SouthPark]

I've been searching online about information about the term 'Cattleya alliance'.

It does say that it involves some genera of orchids, and Cattleya is one of those.

Anyone know if the 'alliance' term is due to those genera generally being compatible - ie. can be crossed with the plants from the Cattleya genus? And also maybe just crossed with each other in general.

Is that what the 'alliance' part means? Just asking, because I was thinking about orchids that used to be called Cattleya bowringiana, and Cattleya skinneri etc. And now they changed their genus to Gurianthe - due to DNA related reasons. So those plants are now re-badged as Gurianthe bowringiana and Gurianthe skinneri. I don't mind what they did - as people only know more these days, with better technology - DNA testing etc.

[Roberta]

Members of the Cattleya Alliance in general are closely enough related to be able to breed with each other. In some cases there's a chain... a Barkeria can breed with an Epidendrum, and an Epidendrum can breed with a Cattleya. Don't know if a Barkeria can directly breed with a Cattleya. I leave it someone with knowledge of more of the technical details to discuss how some of the more obscure species assignments get made - I am sure that there are structural similarities even where cross-breeding doesn't quite work or hasn't been done. The same concept applies in the Oncidium Tribe, Maxillariae, etc.

[SouthPark]

Those details were awesome Roberta. Thanks very much for helping me out on this one! That clears things up a lot (more than a lot). Really appreciated.

[Roberta]

Taxonomic relationships change as scientists' understanding of what is related to what gets refined - DNA work keeps getting better, but answering one set of questions tends to raise more questions. So that's where the tangle of genus reassignments gets frustrating for us mere hobbyists. It is driven by the science. So the "alliances" and "tribes" are just another level of relationships, grouping genera.

[Fairorchids]

I did a couple of searches in Orchids+.

Barkeria dorotheae has only been bred with other Barkerias.

Barkeria lindleyana has 23 registered hybrids, including some where the other parent is a Brassavola, Cattleya, Caularthron, Epidendrum, Epigoa (Epidendrum magnoliae x Domingoa purpurea) & an Cattlianthe (which has Guarianthe aurantiaca in the background).