Some time back, a member of the EPOS (Margaret) gave me part of a Brassocattleya (Bc.) Morning Glory that another member had given her, as it more or less fell in two when she repotted it - orchid society plant insurance is to spread divisions of your plants around in case anything untoward happens to yours!
After a long wait, four of the buds have opened:
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| Bc. Morning Glory; detail of lip |
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| Bc. Morning Glory |
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| Bc. Morning Glory |
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| Bc. Morning Glory; detail of lip |
This is the orchid with the largest individual flowers the OOAB collection; we tend to steer away from the giant
Cattleya-type blooms for the most part, but this is quite a nice plant to my eyes, and it's very hard to say no to a free orchid. :) Incidentally, this plant is another one of the casualties in the taxonomic name wars; its parents, which constitute a first generation (primary) intergeneric hybrid are (for the moment) classified as
Brassavola nodosa and
Cattleya purpurata.
Cattleya purpurata used to be in the genus
Laelia, so many people may have seen this plant labelled Bl. (Brassolaelia) Morning Glory; however, for the moment at least, Brassocattleya (Bc.) Morning Glory is the right name! If you look at the two parents (click on the links above), you'll see that the colour and lip patterning must come from the
Cattleya parent, whilst the huge lip and somewhat narrower petals and sepals seem to be inherited from the
Brassavola parent. This is quite an old hybrid, first registered in 1958; this cross has since gone on form part of at least 27 other registered hybrid orchids (according to version 8 of OrchidWiz).
It arrived at OOAB HQ with some scale; careful ministrations with cotton buds soaked in surgical spirits and drizzling a little Bio Kill into the leaf axils where we couldn't reach seems to have knocked out those menacing little beasts. Talking of menacing little beasts, the fellow EPOS member who gave me this division lost about half of their first flowers (which developed a month or so earlier than mine) to a slug, which devoured several promising buds overnight!
Stunning photos, James, and a superb B. nodosa hybrid. Love the effect B. nodosa has on the lips of its hybrids, especially the primary hybrids. Thanks, too, for the link. Been looking for something like that for a while.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the compliments, Ron. :)
DeleteFor anyone that is wondering, the link is to a work on Botanical Latin names and what they mean, available at http://thepreppersite.com/uploads/The_Names_of_Plants.pdf
Oh! Who wouldn't love such beautiful bloom. I also love the share. It has that elegance that only these Morning glory have. Cool feature!
ReplyDeleteJeanny @ Garden Sheds Regent
Thanks for checking out my post, Jeanny!
DeleteHi from a fellow South African.
ReplyDeleteWow they're stunning!
After years of wanting an orchid, I finally bought my first Phalaenopsis. Now in the course of my research, I'm finding exactly how huge a variety of orchids exist.
Hi Misha,
DeleteThanks for stopping by!
Yes, there are a staggering array of orchids out there! If you catch the bug, find and join your local orchid society.
If you need some help with your phalaenopsis, have a quick look at http://orchids-on-a-balcony.blogspot.com/2012/01/how-to-grow-phalaenopsis-orchid-blog.html
:)
Good luck!
Nice Blog. Congratulations.
ReplyDeleteWonderful flowers! I love the lip of the flower, and the purple-pink color of the flower really compliments the color of the foliage.
ReplyDeleteIt seems only appropriate that B. nodosa, a.k.a. the Lady of the Night, should have offspring named Morning Glory (although I suppose there is some similarity to the flowers on the vine of the same name...)!
ReplyDeleteThank you all for your comments :)
ReplyDelete