The key is what Louis W said, whether it is a true alba.
However, many plants are mis-identified as alba. If there is any pigment in the flower, or on the plant, it is not a true alba. In that case, flowers will likely still be very pale/near alba, but some color will be there.
A typical example is in Laelia anceps. There are a lot of 'white' flowers, where you have to look deep into the closed part of the lip to find the color (dark stripes).
Some well known plants were considered alba, such as Guarianthe skinneri 'Debbie' FCC/AOS (photo below). Only later was the color deep in the lip noticed, so it is actually forma occulata, nor forma alba.
Lastly, the recessive alba/album mutation is not always on the same gene (it can vary from species to species). This is the case for Paph. niveum & Paph. bellatulum; thus, it is impossible to create an album form of Paph. Psyche - except possibly by repeated backcrosses to obtain double recessive forms of both chromosomes.
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Kim (Fair Orchids)
Founder of SPCOP (Society to Prevention of Cruelty to Orchid People), with the goal of barring the taxonomists from tinkering with established genera!
I am neither a 'lumper' nor a 'splitter', but I refuse to re-write millions of labels.
Last edited by Fairorchids; 12-17-2023 at 08:09 AM..
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Alba Cattleya Selfing
Linear Mode
