Laelia Finckeniana? - Orchid Board

Jeff214 · #1 12-04-2018, 04:03 PM

First bloom on this Laelia Finckeniana. Looks like a Laelia anceps?

Roberta · #2 12-04-2018, 05:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jeff214

First bloom on this Laelia Finckeniana. Looks like a Laelia anceps?

Since L. Finkeniana is a primary hybrid of L. anceps x L. albida, no surprise that it might "favor" one parent or the other. I have several L. Finkenianas, where the variety of the L. anceps parent was noted on the tag. I can see what the breeder was trying to accomplish, sometimes the characteristic of the L. anceps parent comes through, others it doesn't. From what I can see, the L. anceps form is dominant, the L. albida part brings the size down as well as encouraging more growths (making a bigger show in a relatively small pot)

Jeff214 · #3 12-04-2018, 09:51 PM

Interesting. I was a bit surprised since I was expecting something similar to the L. Finckeniana 'Kennedys' cultivar. Do you have a favorite L. Finkeniana variety?

Roberta · #4 12-04-2018, 10:30 PM

I have a "generic" one (no special info about the L. anceps side) that has really nice form. I also have one where the L. anceps is the "Disciplinada" or lineata form where those characteristcs really show up in the L. Finkeniana. I have another that I got as a seedlings is a little little disappointing - made with L. anceps var veitchiana (the one with the blue lip) and was hoping for a coerulea... but it's just pink/lavender, alas. Nice but not special. (I wonder if flasks got mixed up...)

Jeff214 · #5 12-05-2018, 03:44 PM

I like them both. It's interesting to see the subtle differences from each cross.

I was a little disappointed with my L. finckeniana, and I may try to find another.

Roberta · #6 12-05-2018, 03:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jeff214

I like them both. It's interesting to see the subtle differences from each cross.

I was a little disappointed with my L. finckeniana, and I may try to find another.

Like any hybrid, it is a "guess" until it actually blooms. The hybridizer likely has specific goals based upon the choice of parents, but the subtleties of genetics may produce something different (especially among L. anceps there is a lot of line breeding, so plenty of chance for surprises), and of course there are likely to be differences among individuals as well. So one is never enough... the hybrid has a lot of good characteristics in general.

WeirdGuySeattle · #7 12-05-2018, 04:27 PM

I wish my anceps had those short flower stalks. My flower stalk is nearly ready to bloom and sitting at about 2.5-3 feet long.

Paul · #8 12-05-2018, 04:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Roberta

a little little disappointing - made with L. anceps var veitchiana (the one with the blue lip) and was hoping for a coerulea... (I wonder if flasks got mixed up...)

Not terribly surprising really, Roberta. With Catts, lavender is dominant to other colors. With Laelia being a close relative (assuming taxonomists haven't lumped it in with Cattleya) very possible that it follows a similar dominance scheme.

Roberta · #9 12-05-2018, 05:06 PM

Well, L. anceps var. veitchiana is white to pale coerulea with coerulea lip. And consistently so. Unless it was line bred to a typical form far enough back in its ancestry that the pink/lavender was totally recessive, hard to see where pink/lavender would come from if the parent were really var. veitchiana. Actually, for this plant both parents were named cultivars... L. anceps 'Fort Caroline' a definite veitchiana, and a mostly white L. albida. The flower turned out very pink. I think mixed up flasks is more likely. Or, "Who's your daddy????"

Fairorchids · #10 12-06-2018, 10:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Roberta

I have a "generic" one (no special info about the L. anceps side) that has really nice form. I also have one where the L. anceps is the "Disciplinada" or lineata form where those characteristcs really show up in the L. Finkeniana. I have another that I got as a seedlings is a little little disappointing - made with L. anceps var veitchiana (the one with the blue lip) and was hoping for a coerulea... but it's just pink/lavender, alas. Nice but not special. (I wonder if flasks got mixed up...)

Roberta,

There are a lot of breeders, who do not understand the genetics.

Coeruleas are recessive, so they will always be dominated by tipo and revert to pink.

A 'mostly alba' (& albescent) is an extremely pale tipo, so it will again dominate and the offspring reverts to pink.

There is more to it than this, but as long as you keep this in mind, you will see that standard color form will dominate in most crosses. You have to buy from some of the leading breeders who line breed, to get the interesting color forms. And, in some cases they release seedlings where only a small percentage are expected to come through with the desired color form.

---------- Post added at 11:20 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:14 AM ----------

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jeff214

Interesting. I was a bit surprised since I was expecting something similar to the L. Finckeniana 'Kennedys' cultivar. Do you have a favorite L. Finkeniana variety?

'Kennedys' is a unique clone (I believe wild collected originally). To get that, you need to buy that.

In a seed grown population, there will be a great deal of variation. And, if it is the reciprocal of what produced 'Kennedys', the results can be like night & day - even if you use the same parent clones (despite the RHS considering AxB and BxA the same, the results vary a great deal).