Cattleya Adela (1898) (synonym Louis Chaton) - (percivaliana ‘Mendenhall-Summit’ AM x trianae ‘Cashen’s’ FCC)

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This is a joint post from southernbelle (SB) and me (TR) about our plants from a remake of this 1898 primary hybrid that we purchased from Orchids Limited. Both parents are considered polyploid (tetraploid, 4N). SB’s plant was the first to bloom in September 2022 with two flowers and her picture was taken outside. She did not record the maximum size:

Adela_SB.jpeg

TR’s plant opened its single flower January 2023, and the one-week open picture was taken inside under 4,000K LED light with no color correction. The horizontal NS at the time of the photo was 15.0 cm and the flower still had minimal fragrance:

Adela_TR.jpeg

Not surprisingly there are some differences in coloration and configuration between our flowers. Orchids Limited posted their first bloom of the cross several years ago on their website and it shows additional variation:

Cattleya Louis Chaton (4N) (Syn. C. Adela) (percivaliana 'Mendenhall Summit' AM/AOS (4N) x trianaei 'Cashens' FCC/AOS (4N))

David (monocotman) had an Adela in several group photos in 2016 and 2019 Slippertalk posts. Maybe he can show a closer photo of his flower and tell us more.

The history of Adela is interesting. In late December 1897 two registration letters for a new Cattleya hybrid (percivaliana x trianae) were wending their way through England to the office of the Royal Horticultural Society. A first was from the Veitch nurseries in England, the largest family-run orchid nursery in Europe. Charles Maron, a smaller orchid grower (don’t know whether England or somewhere on the continent), had sent the other letter.

Both apparently arrived at the RHS the same day and were given the same registration date, January 1, 1898. However, RHS selected the Veitch name Adela as primary with Maron’s selection Louis Chaton as a synonym. Imperfect record keeping allowed the RHS to also register a different Cattleya hybrid as Adela in 1922, so thereafter the (percivaliana x trianae) Adela had to be titled Cattleya Adela (1898).

Maybe Adela received RHS awards long ago, but there is only one AOS award, given in 2014 to the botanical gardens of Montreal for a cultivar named after them, ‘Jardin botanique de Montreal’. It was a large plant in a 25 cm pot with 14 inflorescences (27 flowers and six buds) and a flower horizontal NS of 15 cm. Seems like a culture award to us! We do not know the specific parentage of their plant, but the award photo in the next link shows differences from our flowers.

https://op.aos.org/AQapp_Images/Low_Res/AQI_20140206/20141442.jpg

SB also purchased a yet unflowered Adela (1898) from Waldor that came from a separate, but closely related cross of (percivaliana ‘Summit’ FCC x trianae ‘Cashen’s’ FCC). ‘Mendenhall-Summit’ is a sport (natural mutant) from a mericloning of ‘Summit’.

Cattleya Adela (1898) was registered as a parent only once (in 1908) and this progeny was never used as a registered parent, so was probably an unremarkable plant. Maybe it is reasonable to ask, “Why make Adela in the first place and why remake it?”

First, it may have been a hybrid of convenience in the early 1890s because other than a very late labiata, trianae and percivaliana would have been the only winter blooming unifoliate species available so it was natural to cross them. Percivaliana wouldn’t be expected to bring an improvement in size, configuration, floriferousness, or fragrance to the mix but the orange/gold percivaliana lip coloration might be positive. Percivaliana might shrink the size of the growths while maintaining good flower size and substance. This might make a multigrowth specimen plant like ‘Jardin botanique de Montreal’ more achievable than with many trianae. We think our plants are relatively compact and have attractive flowers, so we will try and produce multi-inflorescence plants.

As fine tetraploid Cattleya species become available through natural or chemically induced genetic variation, it makes sense to reproduce some old primary hybrids. Sometimes the results can be as good as some modern complex hybrids.
 
This is a joint post from southernbelle (SB) and me (TR) about our plants from a remake of this 1898 primary hybrid that we purchased from Orchids Limited. Both parents are considered polyploid (tetraploid, 4N). SB’s plant was the first to bloom in September 2022 with two flowers and her picture was taken outside. She did not record the maximum size:

View attachment 37877

TR’s plant opened its single flower January 2023, and the one-week open picture was taken inside under 4,000K LED light with no color correction. The horizontal NS at the time of the photo was 15.0 cm and the flower still had minimal fragrance:

View attachment 37878

Not surprisingly there are some differences in coloration and configuration between our flowers. Orchids Limited posted their first bloom of the cross several years ago on their website and it shows additional variation:

Cattleya Louis Chaton (4N) (Syn. C. Adela) (percivaliana 'Mendenhall Summit' AM/AOS (4N) x trianaei 'Cashens' FCC/AOS (4N))

David (monocotman) had an Adela in several group photos in 2016 and 2019 Slippertalk posts. Maybe he can show a closer photo of his flower and tell us more.

The history of Adela is interesting. In late December 1897 two registration letters for a new Cattleya hybrid (percivaliana x trianae) were wending their way through England to the office of the Royal Horticultural Society. A first was from the Veitch nurseries in England, the largest family-run orchid nursery in Europe. Charles Maron, a smaller orchid grower (don’t know whether England or somewhere on the continent), had sent the other letter.

Both apparently arrived at the RHS the same day and were given the same registration date, January 1, 1898. However, RHS selected the Veitch name Adela as primary with Maron’s selection Louis Chaton as a synonym. Imperfect record keeping allowed the RHS to also register a different Cattleya hybrid as Adela in 1922, so thereafter the (percivaliana x trianae) Adela had to be titled Cattleya Adela (1898).

Maybe Adela received RHS awards long ago, but there is only one AOS award, given in 2014 to the botanical gardens of Montreal for a cultivar named after them, ‘Jardin botanique de Montreal’. It was a large plant in a 25 cm pot with 14 inflorescences (27 flowers and six buds) and a flower horizontal NS of 15 cm. Seems like a culture award to us! We do not know the specific parentage of their plant, but the award photo in the next link shows differences from our flowers.

https://op.aos.org/AQapp_Images/Low_Res/AQI_20140206/20141442.jpg

SB also purchased a yet unflowered Adela (1898) from Waldor that came from a separate, but closely related cross of (percivaliana ‘Summit’ FCC x trianae ‘Cashen’s’ FCC). ‘Mendenhall-Summit’ is a sport (natural mutant) from a mericloning of ‘Summit’.

Cattleya Adela (1898) was registered as a parent only once (in 1908) and this progeny was never used as a registered parent, so was probably an unremarkable plant. Maybe it is reasonable to ask, “Why make Adela in the first place and why remake it?”

First, it may have been a hybrid of convenience in the early 1890s because other than a very late labiata, trianae and percivaliana would have been the only winter blooming unifoliate species available so it was natural to cross them. Percivaliana wouldn’t be expected to bring an improvement in size, configuration, floriferousness, or fragrance to the mix but the orange/gold percivaliana lip coloration might be positive. Percivaliana might shrink the size of the growths while maintaining good flower size and substance. This might make a multigrowth specimen plant like ‘Jardin botanique de Montreal’ more achievable than with many trianae. We think our plants are relatively compact and have attractive flowers, so we will try and produce multi-inflorescence plants.

As fine tetraploid Cattleya species become available through natural or chemically induced genetic variation, it makes sense to reproduce some old primary hybrids. Sometimes the results can be as good as some modern complex hybrids.
Thanks, Terry. Something just occurred to me. ‘Summit’ has received an FCC, while ‘Mendenhall Summit’ got an AM. I thought ‘Mendenhall Summit’ was one of the few meristems that was better than the parent plant. But, it’s not gotten an FCC?
 
Very interesting! and both are very attractive, But don't you think it was risky to only buy one seedling each? I like to buy two or three young unflowered meri-clones in case one has mutation or as with Terry's percivalliana it's an "inferior clone"
-Patrick
 
Thanks, Terry. Something just occurred to me. ‘Summit’ has received an FCC, while ‘Mendenhall Summit’ got an AM. I thought ‘Mendenhall Summit’ was one of the few meristems that was better than the parent plant. But, it’s not gotten an FCC?
Yep. ’Summit’ was awarded decades ago. The standards for awards evolve over time. Something that was an FCC a while ago might not even get an HCC now. I think of the early Phrag. Jason Fischers that got FCCs. They can’t hold a candle to the more recent FCCs. Some things hold their own. Cattleya trianae ‘The President’ got an FCC a long time ago but was shown again in the last decade and received an extra point more with a repeat FCC. So, ’Mendenhall-Summit’ was larger, etc than ‘Summit’ but the competition for FCCs in percivaliana is tough. There were two incredible FCCs for percivaliana just the last year or two (I think one is named for David Off) that came from a cross of ‘Summit’ with another dark cultivar. Great color, shape, size, etc. ‘Summit’ wouldn’t be able to compete with them.
 
Very interesting! and both are very attractive, But don't you think it was risky to only buy one seedling each? I like to buy two or three young unflowered meri-clones in case one has mutation or as with Terry's percivalliana it's an "inferior clone"
-Patrick
Spoken like a young man with a greenhouse! You are particularly correct with a cross, since the variation is greater than with a mericlone. This was a cross. I am land locked in my indoor plant room so am very limited in what I buy. I am not quite at the point where I don’t buy green bananas, but I am more and more reluctant to buy young seedlings! Waiting 10 years for a bloom is no longer on my agenda.
 
Very interesting! and both are very attractive, But don't you think it was risky to only buy one seedling each? I like to buy two or three young unflowered meri-clones in case one has mutation or as with Terry's percivalliana it's an "inferior clone"
-Patrick
Patrick, I am in the same boat as Terry, space wise. I have a 9’ x 12’ space (4 4’ x 3’ tables with 3 1/2 of those tables Catts and 1/2 table Paphs. I grow about 6 larger phrags on windowsills in my bathroom and 8 Paphs and 7 Phrag seedlings under a light tower in another room. My house is maxed out and anything new pretty much means something has to go. I do not have 2 of anything anymore, except for ‘Adela’ from two different vendors with slightly different parents (‘Mendenhall Summit’ vs ‘Summit’). I will not keep both after they flower a few times. And even then, if one is not really exceptional I’ll find both a nice home. In the last year to year and a half (after losing 1/3 to virus), I’ve started buying (almost exclusively) divisions of original or divisions of the awarded plants (Catts.) Those will stay because they are exceptional, as will a few with sentimental value, but I don’t have room for multiples or other things that aren’t exceptional. And even things that are nice, in some cases have to go. As do any divisions I make as plants get larger than 9” pots. I do have some smaller seedlings from Hadley and I give more value to those for sentimental reasons, but ultimately may have to make some hard choices with those as they get larger. I simply do not have room for more except for a few small ones on my light tower, but not duplicates. Even if I could expand my space indoors or build a greenhouse, I frankly don’t have the time or energy for a larger collection. I am excited for you, though, and your enthusiasm for trying multiples knowing your chances of a really good one increase that way. You are a wonderful encouragement to the orchid community because of your enthusiasm and knowledge at such a young age. It will really be fun to see where orchids take you in the future.
 
Ah the sordid conversation of space, a thing that most indoor orchid growers don’t have much of. I have to move plants out as new ones come in. A very sad affair indeed.
 
Hi guys, that’s for all the information.
As to my plant of Adela, it is no longer in my possession. It may have been culled after blooming a couple of times or been one of the victims of rot, I cannot remember. The flowers were nothing like as nice as these tetraploid remakes.
 
How is the substance on yours Deb? It looks heavier than Terry's. And about how big is yours, more percivalliana size?
-Patrick
 
Deb will comment on her substance. My flower substance is at least as heavy as my trianae ('Cashen's x self) plant, so I think the tetraploid nature of my plant makes sense. My percivaliana ('Summit' x self) plant also has heavy substance, but not as heavy as the Adela. I think 3 flowers on an inflorescence isn't in the genetics, but I an picture a four-inflorescence plant in a 6-inch pot with two flowers per spike that would be very pretty.
 
Deb will comment on her substance. My flower substance is at least as heavy as my trianae ('Cashen's x self) plant, so I think the tetraploid nature of my plant makes sense. My percivaliana ('Summit' x self) plant also has heavy substance, but not as heavy as the Adela. I think 3 flowers on an inflorescence isn't in the genetics, but I an picture a four-inflorescence plant in a 6-inch pot with two flowers per spike that would be very pretty.
Since they are first flowerings you might not be able to tell, but dose Adela have percivalliana's growth habit of putting up to growths during the spring through fall then blooming on both in winter? And if it is to early to tell what do you think it will be?
-Patrick
 
Deb will comment on her substance. My flower substance is at least as heavy as my trianae ('Cashen's x self) plant, so I think the tetraploid nature of my plant makes sense. My percivaliana ('Summit' x self) plant also has heavy substance, but not as heavy as the Adela. I think 3 flowers on an inflorescence isn't in the genetics, but I a picture a four-inflorescence plant in a 6-inch pot with two flowers per spike that would be very pretty.
I remember the substance being quite good, but I’m afraid I did not make notes on it so am trying to remember from the photo.
 
Since they are first flowerings you might not be able to tell, but dose Adela have percivalliana's growth habit of putting up to growths during the spring through fall then blooming on both in winter? And if it is to early to tell what do you think it will be?
-Patrick
I have only gotten one growth per season. To make a good multi-inflorescence plant, I know that we need to start getting two new growths from the old growth on a regular basis, whether that is simultaneous or sequential won't matter. I think my plant is large enough and healthy enough to tell us this next season whether it is just going to plod alone one growth each year or do better than that. Deb's plant is a bit ahead of mine so she should comment on its growth pattern.
 
I have only gotten one growth per season. To make a good multi-inflorescence plant, I know that we need to start getting two new growths from the old growth on a regular basis, whether that is simultaneous or sequential won't matter. I think my plant is large enough and healthy enough to tell us this next season whether it is just going to plod alone one growth each year or do better than that. Deb's plant is a bit ahead of mine so she should comment on its growth pattern.
Hmmm. I’m at the Paph Forum in DC today/tomorrow so will take a look when I get home.
 

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