mantiqueirae from the Pico do Cristal in Minas Gerais state as var. Fowlie (1968) reported a pale ecotype of S. wittigiana do appear on the market from time to time, mostly in the EU and Brazil the ones I have seen for sale recently in northern Europe were extremely expensive, even for such a rare orchid form. Withner (1993) shows an image of the very pale colored ‘Ericka’, awarded an AM by the AOS in 1967. The only flower of this shade that I have seen in life was of the former species and was–sadly and despite having nice shape–a muddy shade of pale whitish-salmon. wittigiana do produce very pale, caerulea and albescens-types. “Tetraploids” or “4n” is a bit of a misnomer since many plants as well as subsequent generations haven’t been tested for ploidy, so “treated” or “probable polyploid” is more accurate.Īmong some very rare color forms seen in the rose or pink-flowered species, Sophronitis brevipedunculata and S. Withner provided a detailed list of the horticultural varietal names published up to that time, most of which are now considered merely color forms, as well as subspecific names for plants that had been described as such.īecause of their rather small flowers in nature, since the 1980s they are often chemically treated at seed or seedling stage to try and induce polyploidy and its often-resultant added flower size and plant vigor. cernua were exceedingly rare in cultivation outside of Brazil, so only one image of this type of variant was provided, incorrectly labelled “ Var. At that time, the yellow-flowered forms of Sophronitis coccinea and S. In Volume III of “The Cattleyas and their Relatives” (1993), Carl Withner includes a quite good overview of the genus with sound cultural recommendations and a few very interesting photos unfortunately with a couple questionable IDs and generally mediocre color renderings. Batemaniana with a variety of other primary hybrids involving S. This cross, first flowered in 1886, was used in many hundreds of subsequent hybrids. The classic Sophrocattleya Batemaniana ( Sophronitis coccinea x Cattleya intermedia) is a very early laeline hybrid made in 1881 at the Veitch Nurseries in England. coccinea have appeared on the market of late, mostly from Japan, and some clones I have seen appear to blend these primary colors well. Crosses of improved yellow and red flowered forms of S. As more line bred and imported plants enter cultivation outside of Brazil, small numbers of splash-color type flowers have also appeared in the trade. Some of the better-known red-flowered species also have orange and yellow-flowered forms in cultivation, variously labeled as forma aurea, flava, xanthina and xanthoglossa as well as under archaic varietal names such a var. Most species have flower colors that are some shade of red, although S. generic names created to denote hybrid origin). Long popular with orchid breeders because they impart red colors and compact growth habits to their offspring (including many of the so-called Mini-Catts), Sophronitis are the “Sophro-“ or Sophra-prefix and -oniti s-suffix to some laeline nothogenera (i.e. cernua, is primarily a lowland species that ranges from coastal mangrove forests to about 2,000’/600 m elevation in very warm, often seasonally dry ecosystems where they can form immense colonies on older trees under optimal conditions. Most species originate from low to upper elevation cloud forests between ~2,000-7,500’/~600-2,300 m, where they grow as both lithophytes and epiphytes in moisture-drenched environments. They are characterized by their compact growth habits with yellow, orange, red, pink or magenta-colored flowers emerging together with new leaves, globular or spindle-shaped pseudobulbs and very succulent foliage, often with a dark mid-stripe on the leaves. cernua) ranges more widely into the lowlands of eastern Bolivia, Paraguay and northeastern Argentina. Sophronitis sensu amplo (Laelinae) is a small (eight more or less accepted species), easily recognized orchid genus with mostly localized species that are endemic to the uplands of southeastern Brazil although one ( S.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |