Paph. Burleigh Mohur 'No. 2' AM/AOS

Slippertalk Orchid Forum

Help Support Slippertalk Orchid Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

tim

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 4, 2007
Messages
633
Reaction score
4
Burleigh Mohur was registered in 1954 as a cross of Gold Mohur and Burleigh Brae. It's the only cross registered with Burleigh Brae as a parent; Gold Mohur was a spectacular parent, with almost 100 grexes to its name, many of them being important early yellow breeders. Burleigh Brae itself is 1/2 Gold Mohur, and therefore Burleigh Mohur contains includes amost 60% parents of unknown origin. It's consequently a very interesting grex. One of the parents of Gold Mohur is an early complex called Goliath AM/RHS (1913), which passed from W.R. Lee to G.F. Moore in the late 19-teens. Goliath made Gold Mohur in 1925, Gold Mohur made Burleigh Brae in 1938 (by Armstrong and Brown), and backcrossed to Gold Mohur made Burleigh Mohur in 1946.

At the time, in the US in Wellesley, Massachusetts was a company called the L. Sherman Adams Co., which was interested in making paphs. L. Sherman Adam's wife Helen was instrumental in the early history of the AOS, and many credit her with two very important "creations". The first was the creation of the first AOS Handbook on Judging, and with it the inception of the AOS judging system. The second was the revelation that paphs need a complex carbohydrate source to initiate germination; she was the first to use coconut milk in paph agar for germination.

L. Sherman Adams brought in alot of the early English breeder paphs to the US before anybody else. The cross of Burleigh Brae, from the stud houses of Armstrong and Brown and its parent Gold Mohur, from the esteemed collection of H.G. Moore, was registered by Sherman Adams in 1946. Two clones were awarded, 'No. M', with an FCC in 1947 and 'No. 2', with an AM in 1954. 'No. M' is most interesting because it is white. I cannot for the life of me explain why it is white, as nothing in the parentage of it seems like it could possibly account for white. But there it is...

Burleigh Mohur 'No. 2' was destined for great things, crossing the country to end up in the paph collection at McClellans. It is the parent, along with F.C. Puddle 'Bodnant' of Paph. Freckles, registered in 1968, which went on to produce Via Ojai, arguably the finest American white until White Knight was registered in the late 1980s. There are almost 50 awarded clones of Freckles, and a dozen awarded Via Ojai.

In addition, 'No. 2' made Harbur, Van Ness and Deadwood Trail (which made Anja, then Lippewunder), and all the plants that came from that group for McClellans. Talk about a touchstone of breeding - here we are almost 70 years later still looking at the chocolate dorsal of Burleigh Mohur in the finest yellow of our age in Lippewunder.

So here it is then, quite possibly the first time pictured in color online anywhere...Paph. Burleigh Mohur 'No. 2' AM/AOS
 

Attachments

  • burleighmohur_no2.jpg
    burleighmohur_no2.jpg
    47.1 KB · Views: 84
For being a breeder for great yellows, it is not a very yellow flower. I know yellow is often the background color behind the green, so it does make sense, but it is interesting to note. Thanks for the history. I really like the chocolate flash in the dorsals, especially when over a yellow background.
 
Thanks a lot, Tim!

You come along the name Burleigh Mohur a lot when studying Paph genealogies. I'm glad I finally a have a "face" for that name. As Leo wrote, it is darker than I'd guessed. It is quite a good flower, atually, there must be classic breeding plants that look much worse. Great dorsal/synsepal on a flat flower.
 
I'm not sure it is a good yellow breeder...I guess some Van Ness clones are yellow-ish but not realy, just -ish. I think the chocolate in the dorsal is the most important part of this otherwise rather small-ish and unattractive-ish flower. When combined with brachy genes, the chocolate becomess pink (witness Freckles, or even Psyllian, Van Ness x Psyche). That be pretty. When combined with the right other parents, and heavily selected, the chocolate becomes nicely even, distinct, and less muddy.

Despite being interesting as parents, in my opinion one of the most important things these plants I show should be telling you is just how important the breeder's eye towards selection is in making new grexes. So much of the control of the quality of offspring comes from simply choosing the best parents...
 
csa awards cd, aqplus, rhs awards cd, rhs online registrar, dr. wilson's paphs and progeny book, odc awards list, old McClellans (and other) catalogs, and most importantly lots of discussion with older growers.
 
I'm not sure it is a good yellow breeder...I guess some Van Ness clones are yellow-ish but not realy, just -ish. I think the chocolate in the dorsal is the most important part of this otherwise rather small-ish and unattractive-ish flower. When combined with brachy genes, the chocolate becomess pink (witness Freckles, or even Psyllian, Van Ness x Psyche). That be pretty. When combined with the right other parents, and heavily selected, the chocolate becomes nicely even, distinct, and less muddy.

Despite being interesting as parents, in my opinion one of the most important things these plants I show should be telling you is just how important the breeder's eye towards selection is in making new grexes. So much of the control of the quality of offspring comes from simply choosing the best parents...

I was told by Gary Turpin a long time Paph grower from the Bay area that Burleigh Mohur #1 was used to make Freckles. Burleigh Mohur #1 being a white with pink blush and some spotting. This clone is still around.
Theresa
 
Wel, Teresa I certainly wouldn't want to step on yours or Gary's toes. I have Burleigh Mohur 'No. 1' from Val Tonkin's collection, and it is indeed white (as well as 'No. M'. I recall a conversation I had once with Val about what made Freckles, and she said it was 'No. 2'. Maybe someone from McClellan's could settle this dispute. I can check through some old McClellan's catalogs and see if there's any help there...

Yet another reason to register using clonal names...

Teresa, do you have any input as to how there are white Burleigh Mohur, given its parentage?
 
I found it: in AQ 1, page 70, is the Award of Quality to McClellan's for Freckles, using Burleigh Mohur 'Burnished Gold' x F.C. Puddle 'FCC/RHS', awarded at the 1969 San Francisco Show.

So I was wrong on both counts!! Oops!!
 
I did for a little while. Ross saw it once. I got rid of it because I can't deal with copyright laws :)
 

Latest posts

Back
Top