old bessae from OZ

[dodidoki]

In bloom

 

[NYEric]

Yay besseae! Show us he plant

 

[dodidoki]

Yay besseae! Show us he plant

Here, Eric:

 

[big923cattleya]

YEAH besseae!!!!

 

[Djthomp28]

I need my shades to look at that flower

 

[NYEric]

Thanks for sharing. With leaves like that it's probably 3N.

 

[alex.sorensen51]

wish I had a bessae species plant

 

[terryros]

Thanks for sharing. With leaves like that it's probably 3N.

I was told by Jerry Fischer at Orchids Limited that many of the nicest Orchid Zone besseae were created using chemical stimulation to create polyploid plants, which are more likely to produce the larger, nicer flowers. Because these were nicer, they replaced the natural diploid plants in many collections, personal and commercial. Unfortunately, only the full tetraploid plants, which were rare, were good breeding plants. Therefore, it has currently become much more difficult to produce more besseae and besseae hybrids. Many of the crosses don’t take or produce only a small number of plants. The 3N and mixaploid plants are still nice plants with excellent flowers - they just aren’t good for breeders.

 

[FrankRC]

I was told by Jerry Fischer at Orchids Limited that many of the nicest Orchid Zone besseae were created using chemical stimulation to create polyploid plants, which are more likely to produce the larger, nicer flowers. Because these were nicer, they replaced the natural diploid plants in many collections, personal and commercial. Unfortunately, only the full tetraploid plants, which were rare, were good breeding plants. Therefore, it has currently become much more difficult to produce more besseae and besseae hybrids. Many of the crosses don’t take or produce only a small number of plants. The 3N and mixaploid plants are still nice plants with excellent flowers - they just aren’t good for breeders.

And thus if we were to ever undertake a genetic analysis of the genus Phragmipedium we could not, and should never, use greenhouse material.

Frank

 

[terryros]

And thus if we were to ever undertake a genetic analysis of the genus Phragmipedium we could not, and should never, use greenhouse material.

Frank

Even line breeding could have accidentally induced abnormal ploidy. Although spontaneous increased ploidy could occur in the wild population, it should be rare. Using a group of wild collected, typical looking plants would be needed to establish the 2N genetic component. With our dwindling wild populations that may be a big challenge.