Bulbopetellum vs. Zygopetellum (sp?)
 

I'm trying to figure out what the difference is. Some places I have gone to they lump them together. Is it merely the same name for the same group of orchids, is there a scientific difference between the two?

This may be a simple answer, but I'm a bit confused. I have a Zygopetellum but when researching it I kept getting bulbopetellum, lol...

Do you mean a Bollopetalum?

It's a cross between a Bollea and a Zygopetalum.

Maureen

Yes, I knew my spelling was off, lol...

Thank you!

Here's additional info:

Bollea is in the Maxillaria tribe.

Zygopetalum is in the Maxillaria tribe.

Bollea and Zygopetalum are closely related to each other.

But...

Bollea has no pseudobulbs.

Zygopetalums do.

Most people have trouble growing pseudobulbless Zygopetalinae.

Most people can grow Zygopetalums.

That intergeneric cross supposedly brings the best of both - idk.


If you're wondering...

A similar thing happens for the intergeneric cross Zygonisia.

Aganisia (currently Acacallis) has pseudobulbs.

Zygopetalum has pseudobulbs.

They're both in the Maxillaria tribe.

A lot of people have issues growing Acacallis (aka Aganisia).

A lot of people can grow Zygopetalums.

Boom! You got the intergeneric cross Zygonisia.

As posted above, Bollopetalum = Bollea x Zygopetalum. The most popular cross is Blptm. Midnight Blue, which is a cross between Bollea violacea and Zygopetalum B.G. White. Actually, I think this is currently the only Bollopetalum cross; I've yet to see other zygos crossed with other Bollea species (I'd love to see one with Bollea lawrenceana as one of the parents).

Technically, this cross is now Zygotorea Midnight Blue since the genus Bollea was merged into Pescatorea (thanks for makin' a mess here, mister Dressler :p ). Since I consider Pescatoreas and Bolleas to be different genera, I like to keep the "old" designations. :)

Tsk...tsk...you forgot Propetalum (Promenaea x Zygo) and Zygotorea (Zygo. x Pescatorea). C'mon, king. you can do better. :p

Just messin' with you. :biggrin:

I don't think the intergenerics were created just to make life easier for growers. There isn't much variation in zygo coloring (you know this), so crossing them with allied genera results in a bigger color pool. :)

Interesting, so that is why when I was searching for information on my Midnight Blue I kept coming across information that I thought was erroneous. That really clarifies things for me. Thank you everyone.

Zygo's have the basic brown, white, and purple colors. That's it. So, yup, Carl, you're right.

But quite honestly, even when bred for their colors, there still really isn't much variation. ;)

They just get darker purple and/or more of it. :lol:

Maybe some of the crosses have differently shaped flowers, but not by much either.

The Zygopetalum traits seem to overpower a lot of the traits of the other genera.