Who can explain flower "Crippling" to me???

[isurus79]

Crippling in Cattleyas is genetic. Its a thickening of the distal ends of the petals as the plant attempts to create a stamen at these locations. This condition gets worse as the plant ages and the plant is often able to actually create these structures.

It is thought that the crippling issue came from Cattleya dowiana 'Rosita' when it was crossed with Cattleya bicolor to create C. Iris. The limited genetic pool to draw from when creating yellow hybrids meant that C. Iris was in the background of most yellows in the early 20th century. Rhyncholaelia digbyana is somehow able to remove the crippling gene is is considered largely responsible for current crop of crippling free yellow hybrids on the market today.