Cyrtorchis arcuata x Oeoniella polystachys in Flower

[unhappykat]

Hello All,

On a recent trip to purchase a few plants, or few dozen as it usually happens, I saw this plant in flower and just had to bring it home.

The tag reads Cyrtorchis arcuata x Oeoniella polystachys, it says it came from Hoosier Orchids originally and appears to be quite old.

The plant itself is fairly compact, there is a 12 inch ruler for reference of its size, and there are 4 open spikes with 3 additional spikes still emerging from the stem. They don't seem to open simultaneously but the flowers are fragrant during the day and night and are 2.25 inches across.

I haven't seen breeding done with oeoniella before this plant and now it may become a new candidate for making floriferous hybrids with other angraecoids.

[Kevinator]

Neat plant. We rarely if ever see angraecoid intergeneric hybrids, especially ones with oeoniella. The flower structure seems a little iffy to me though. Oeoniella seems to cause the pointed lips from the cyrtorchis to curl from the sides. If it was hybridized with say an angraecum or aerangis, we might have showier, more floriferous plants. But its still a great plant nonetheless.

[WhiteRabbit]

Nice!

[MrHappyRotter]

Oh, cool. An Angrecoid intergeneric. That's not exactly something you see a lot of. Fragrant night and day sounds amazing. Is it even possible to describe the scent or is it something familiar like citrus or like gardenia?

[calvin_orchidL]

Is this Daniel's plant? (Saw it here). I would agree with Kevinator - don't see much Oeoniella, but who knows!

[unhappykat]

Originally Posted by calvin_orchidL

Is this Daniel's plant? (Saw it here). I would agree with Kevinator - don't see much Oeoniella, but who knows!

Yup, That's the same plant! Fell in love with it as soon as I saw it.

I have been looking at the flowers and foliage compared to both parent species and I am starting to see traits from both parents in the hybrid. The arcuatas in my collection all have fairly stiff, compact, foliage with wide flat leaves. The oeoniellas have thin foliage that has an upward growth habit and are very flexible, the supposed hybrid has a habit that is similar to both but it can also be contributed to natural variation in the arcuata species.

The flowers of the hybrid are quite unlike the arcuata blooms that I have seen, in both size and form, which does make me think the hybrid is correctly labelled. The sepals of arcuata are strongly reflexed, in all specimens I have and have seen, while the hybrid has a much more flattened form for the lower sepals and the lip does not protrude down as in the typical form.

In my opinion the strongest evidence of the hybrids validity is the presence of small, but prominent, side lobes on the hybrids lip. These lobes are absent in the arcuata parent, no mention of them is made in Joyce Stewarts description for the species and none of the plants I have seen in flower have these lobes. The lobes are almost certainly from the Oeoniella, in which they are very prominent, as well as the upward pointing lip that is present in the hybrid.

I have linked large photographs of the hybrid and typical forms of the parent species that have flowered out in my collection for comparison, I will have to wait until the typical species flower again to take better photos of the side views and columns so I can make a better comparisons of the flower morphology.

The Hybrid: http://i326.photobucket.com/albums/k...uataHybrid.jpg

The Cyrtorchis: http://i326.photobucket.com/albums/k...rcuata%201.jpg
http://i326.photobucket.com/albums/k...rcuata%202.jpg

The Oeoniella: http://i326.photobucket.com/albums/k...tachys%203.jpg

[calvin_orchidL]

Interesting observations. Regardless, it's a great plant, and to own one of Hillerman's originals is a pleasure in and of itself!

[Tindomul]

Awesome plant, great little blooms. Thanks for sharing. It's very unique.