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:
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:
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.
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:
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.