The Orchid Keiki - Virginia Orchid Society

The Orchid Keiki
Special Points of Interest:
● November 17th Meeting :
1:30 p.m. at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden
● October Show Table Results
● History Lesson: The Cattleyas (part 1)
LC Allen Condo Photo by Allen Black
On November 17th, our Henry Spencer Trust speaker will be
James Rose of Cal-Orchid in Santa Barbara, California.
His two topics will be:
Laelias of Mexico:
An introduction to the many different
Laelias that are easily grown and do well in our Virginia region
Lycastes
1, Issue2,4Issue 4
Volume
Volume
November
April 20132013
Our bonus lecture on
will dispel the myths of the difficulty
of growing Lycastes in this part of the country
James will be bringing an eclectic collection of plants for sale, including some of the new
South African plants recently imported. Pre-Orders are highly recommended if you are
interested in specific plants: orders must be placed by Wednesday November 13, to insure that
the plants you want are brought with James to the meeting. You can order from a list that
accompanied The Keiki Express or go directly to Cal-Orchid website and order from there.
Check out his website for more information: www.calorchid.com
(VOS Members may not bring plants to sell)
Each year the Virginia Orchid Society features one of their monthly speakers as their “Henry Spencer
Trust “ speaker, which is underwritten through a portion of the dividends from the trust fund established
in honor of Dr. Henry S. Spencer, MD, one of the founding members of the Virginia Orchid Society.
Please note that our meeting this month will begin promptly at 1:30 p.m.
Please have orchids for the show table in place by 1:00 p.m. to allow
judging to be completed by meeting time.
The Orchid Keiki
President’s Message
Greetings VOS members!
This month we welcome Jim Rose from Cal-Orchid who will speak to us about
Laelias of Mexico and also will give a mini-talk about Lycastes. Because of this
double feature we will start our meeting promptly at 1:30. Plants should be on
the show table by 1:00 to allow time for judging. Be sure to visit the Cal-Orchid
website in advance to place your pre-orders. We have extended a special
invitation to many of our affiliated societies in Virginia to attend our meeting and
hope to have a great turnout for this special event.
Thanks to all who brought in your beautiful plants last month for the show table
and to those who contributed plants to our exhibit at the Blue Ridge Orchid
Society show. Please bring in your blooming orchids to share at this special
meeting if you are able.
Many thanks to members who brought in food last month as well as plants for the
door and raffle prizes. A gentle reminder to those who signed up for something
savory or sweet for Bernadette's Hospitality Table this month: Betty Jo Fulghum,
Art Burke, Ron Geraci, and Amber Via. We can still use additional food
contributions for our guests if you are able to bring something to this meeting.
Finally don't forget our December meeting at Chadwick Orchids. This will be a pot
luck so be thinking about those special holiday dishes that you can bring to share.
See you at the meeting!
Linda Lawrence
President
Need a Vacation?
A Reminder:
Register now at www.aos.org
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The AOS Fall Members’ Meeting
November 13-17, 2013
Fairfield Tropical Botanic Garden, Coral Gables, Florida
Happenings:
*Orchid Show sponsored by the Orchid Society of Coral Gables
& Fairfield Tropical Botanical Garden with AOS Judging
*Orchid Show Preview Party
*Fairfield Tropical Botanic Garden Tours
*Special Auction and Gala Banquet
*Speakers discussing Cattleya maxima, catasetums and the
keynote address: Introducing Orchids in an Urban
Environment: “The Singapore Story”
October Show Table Results
Cattleya Alliance Hybrid Standard
Blue:
Slc. Misty Girl 'Autumn Symphony' - Thomas Voytilla
Red:
Blc. Orglade's Charm x Blc. Goldenzelle - Michael Fine
Yellow: Cat. Porcia Camnizado AM/AOS - Henry Randolph
Cattleya Alliance Hybrid Miniature/Compact
Blue:
Red:
SC. Crystelle Smith 'Gold Throat’ - Thomas Voytilla
Pot. Love Tapestry 'Popular Song' - Thomas Voytilla
Species
Red:
Cat. bowringiana ‘Blue Hawaii’ - Arthur Burke
Slc. Misty Girl 'Autumn Symphony'
Phragmipedium Hybrid
Blue:
Phrag. Twilight 'Rising Rocket' x Besseae - Thomas Voytilla
Oncidium Alliance Hybrid
Blue:
Red:
Yellow:
Onc. Lemon Heart - Thomas Voytilla
Mtssa. Aztec 'Nalo' - Thomas Voytilla
Mclra Yellow Star ' Okika' - Thomas Voytilla
Other Miscellaneous Genera
Yellow:
Blc. Orglade's Charm (x) Blc. Goldenzelle
Cirrhopetalum Elizabeth Ann Bockleberry FCC/AOS Henry Randolph
Novice Grower (Up to 6 month's Growing Experience)
Blue:
Bolbo. Jersey 'Black's Red Star' - Lynn Liddington
Cat. Bowringiana ‘Blue Hawaii’
Cirrhopetalum Elizabeth Ann Bockleberry
FCC/AOS
SC. Crystelle Smith ‘Gold Throat’
The Merritt Huntington Memorial Symposium Photos, September 2013
Photos by Helen Sanders
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The Orchid Keiki
Cattleyas - Tropical America’s Gift to the Orchid World
By Ernest Hetherington
Reprinted with permission from the Orchid Digest Vol. 51, No. 2, April-May-June 1987
The conquistadors who opened up Central and South America to the European world were quickly
followed, indeed often accompanied, by travelers more interested in studying the flora of these
countries than in searching for gold or subduing the natives.
Even those who raise orchids seldom ask the question, “Where did they originally come from?”
The general public neither know nor care except to admire their beauty, and perhaps, as they
become better known raise an occasional plant or purchase one as a gift. To those interested in
orchids, a sense of perspective on the orchid family and its multi-thousand complex of hybrids
assures more enjoyment. Orchids are found growing throughout the entire world except
Antarctica, still thousands are native to more temperate areas, although the majority are truly
tropical. Of the tropical orchids which shall be our interest in this article, we shall confine our
primary interest to that very large group of genera and species which we loosely call Cattleyas and
related genera, although from a scientific standpoint, they are properly known as members of the
Laeliinae. Let us leave the Laeliinae for a moment to see in what regions of the world the other
major genera might be found.
In southeast Asia, which is where the other greatest group of major orchids come from, we find the
species of Cymbidiums grow throughout the entire area. In this area, including India, Burma, parts
of China, Borneo, Malaysia, to New Guinea and the Solomon Islands, etc., we find the species of
Paphiopedilums. Throughout much of the area the species of Phalaenopsis are also found. Here,
too, are found the many Dendrobiums and related genera which have come to be so important . .
Vandas, too, are found in this area of greater southeast Asia. For sheer mass of important genera,
southeast Asia must take first prize.
However, the group loosely called Cattleyas, which takes in all the genera related to Cattleyas and
intergeneric hybrids, are found only in the tropical Americas to include much of South America,
Central America, and the Caribbean. Known as the Laeliinae they comprise from a scientific
standpoint about 43 different genera broken down into over 800 different species. Many of these
have been taken by hybridizers into cultivation and intercrossed. We shall look more closely at the
hybrid complexes later in this article. We can clearly see from an evolutionary process that the
great variety we have in Cattleyas, from the tiny Sophronitis to the huge Schomburgkia genera
[the South American ones have been moved to the genus Laelia, and the rest have been reclassified
as Myrmecophila], has evolved in this part of the world over a period of hundreds of thousands of
years. Perhaps this is why so many intercross so readily. One of the reasons for their
compatibility, of course, is the evenness of the chromosomes in their genetic makeup.
This whole group of related genera take their name loosely from the genus Cattleya described by
Lindley in 1824 and dedicated to Mr. William Cattley of Barnet, England, an enthusiastic
horticulturist who collected rare plants in the early part of the 1800’s. He was one of the earliest to
build a collection of exotic orchids. Mr. Cattley died in 1832. The genus Cattleya was founded
upon the species which we know as Cattleya labiata, or the Cattleya with the big lip. When it first
appeared in England it created a sensation. There are other stories to be told about the rediscovery
of the species and its use. Perhaps, we can best say because of its great

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beauty, it was recognized as a very important orchid at the time and contributed to the start of what we call
“the orchid craze.”
Lord Cavendish, the Duke of Devonshire, really must be given credit for
popularizing orchids in England among the nobility and the wealthy class. It was
said that on viewing an Oncidium papillio, it caught his fancy. In time Joseph
Paxton became his grower, who gained fame in his own right.
We must not overlook the genus Epidendrum, which is the true “reed stem”
genus. These, is some cases, have been crossed with other genera to make such
hybrids as Epiphronitis Veitchii which was bred from
Epidendrum radicans x Sophronitis grandiflora
(Syn. S. coccinea) and was registered by Veitch in
1890. Epiphronitis Veitchii are still in cultivation
(perhaps more recent repeats). We must assume that
the hybrid has been remade a number of times. Of
Oncidium papilio
similar quality and appearance is Epiphronitis Orpetii
(Epidendrum obrienianum x Sophronitis violacea), registered by Thayer in 1901.
Epiphronitis Veitchii
Of the many genera in our Laeliinae not more than six or eight – a maximum of
ten – have been used to make the vast majority of our Cattleya complex hybrids. What are these major genera?
The first, of course, is the genus Cattleya. Next, the almost identical genus, Laelia. The species B. digbyana,
of the genus Brassavola or correctly, Rhyncholaelia, has been used a great deal. Brassavola, in its species
B. nodosa especially, is another major influence. Sophronitis with the primary species S. coccinea, although
others have been used, has given us so many of the reds and dwarfish hybrids. The Cattleya-like Encyclias
have given us many fine epicats. Caularthron, best known as Diacrium, and Schomburgkias pretty well make
up our main team.
Now let us look at some of the most influential species in these few major genera.
Cattleyas are divided loosely into major groups depending on their growth habit –
the unifoliate Cattleyas with one leaf, as the name implies, have larger flowers with a
large labiate lip. The second group of no less charm or appeal are the bifoliates. As
the name implies, they have two leaves. They also have smaller flowers carried in
heads with an average of four to six flowers to the spray. In the unifoliates, the fall
blooming C. labiata has been important in breeding the large purples such as we
know today. This is why so many good purples are fall blooming. While of lesser
importance, there is a blue variety of Cattleya labiata, as well a pure white and semialba varieties (white with a purple lip). We can wonder what our Cattleya complex
would be if we did not have that wonderful yellow with magnificent red lip species, Cattleya labiata
Cattleya dowiana, named after Captain Dow so many years ago.
C. dowiana when crossed with purples intensifies the dark red-purple coloring,
especially under incandescent light. With other yellow species and hybrids it
imparts its yellow coloring. We must remember, too, the wonderful, strong citron
fragrance of C. dowiana, which it passes on often in mixed fragrances to its
hybrids. Cattleya gaskelliana, a unifoliate purple species is of considerable merit.
Cattleya lueddemanniana, especially in its purple form, has been most notable as
one of the parents of Lustre. Lustre has given rise to the majority of the beautiful
purple Cattleyas we have today. There is a pure white form of lueddemanniana, as
well as a blue and a white with a purple lip. Cattleya mendelii 
Cattleya-dowiana-aurea
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The Orchid Keiki
is a charming spring-blooming unifoliate purple species whose genes
have contributed to a notable line of modern-day Cattleyas. A student
of Cattleya hybridizing would do well to follow a number of our
hybrids back to this species. Perhaps the
most notable is Cattleya Suavior (C.
mendelii x the bifoliate flared petal
Cattleya intermedia var. aquinii). From
Venezuela in northern South America
came the magnificent spring-blooming
C. mossiae, named in hour of Mrs. Moss.
Cattleya lueddemanniana alba
Its primary contribution has been to
breed large-flowered, spring-blooming purples.
Cattleya gaskelliana
The pure white C. mossiae var. Wageneri is surely
worth growing for its late spring or early summer blooms. C. mossiae also has a
semi-alba or white with a purple lip form known as C. mossiae var. Reineckiana.
Cattleya Suavior Aquinii
During the early years of plant introduction, when orchid collectors feverishly
ranged throughout Central and South America, many of the finest forms of all of
the species were discovered and sent to Europe. We can only visualize that some
of the most magnificent forms of these species ever seen were introduced at that
time. A sad note to our story is that most, if not all, of these famous old-timers
have long since been dead due to disease or misculture – but that is not our story.
The midwinter flowering unifoliate purple
Cattleya percivaliana is most worthwhile
for its midwinter bloom and compact
growth habit. The pastel Cattleya
schroederae, while very pretty and with a
delightful, unique fragrance is not a major
species, though it is worth growing.
When we come to Cattleya trianaei we
Cattleya percivaliana
find a wonderful and extremely valuable
species from northern South America, named in honor of a Mr. Triana.
Its large, rather light flowers are most attractive. This species gives us
our midwinter bloom and compact growth habit. Cattleya warneri, a large
flowered species from Brazil, has given us some very fine purple hybrids C. mossiae var. Reineckiana
for late spring and early summer, such as Cattleya Dupreana (warneri x warscewiczii). Lastly, and
surely not the least of the unifoliate Cattleyas is Cattleya warscewiczii, known for so many years
by its synonym, Cattleya gigas. This is the largest flowered
of all Cattleya species, with flowers up to 8”. It truly is one
of the most beautiful. We have been fortunate that not only
are there purple cultivars of C. warscewiczii, but the
cultivar var. ‘Frau Melanie Beyrodt’ FCC/RHS (Beyrodt,
July 12, 1904) is a semi-alba diploid form which breeds fine
summer semi-albas. Yes, there is a blue C. warscewiczii as
well as a pure white (Firmin Lambeau). However, they are
seldom used. In our bifoliate Cattleyas the pink
C. loddigesii with its splendid white form, C. loddigesii
‘Stanley” FCC/RHS, to the magnificent 
C. warscewiczii var. Coerulea
'Helenadeospina' (blue form)
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bronze and yellow C. guttata; the fine
green or greenish-yellow C. granulosa, a
splendid olive green to yellow-green
bicolor; and the spotted semi-miniature
C. aclandiae. Cattleya amethystoglossa is
a delightful, small-flowered species with
up to 40 flowers to the spray on some of
the best cultivars. The 2 1/2” spotted
flowers are most attractive. Regrettable,
C. guttata
cultivars of this species have not been
used for breeding as much as the public would like. Cattleya intermedia is
Cattleya amethystoglossa
another of the bifoliate species from
Brazil which has made a notable contribution. The purple form of this bifoliate
species is rather nondescript and not too often used. However, the pure white
C. intermedia is a lovely thing which has been used a fair amount. With
Intermedia alba in hybrids there is a waxy whiteness throughout the flower and
the lip which is obtainable in no other way. This absence of lip color appears
to be dominant, which carries through a number of generations. The extremely
rare aquinii form of Cattleya intermedia has been the most notable. This rather
dwarfish species with its purple flaring on the petals (so-called aquinii
markings), named after Mr. Aquino in Brazil so many years ago, has given us
an ever expanding range of hybrids with flared petals.
Cattleya intermedia var. acquinii
In Central America are two species of bifoliate Cattleyas, both so very different
and both so very outstanding – each in its own right. These are Cattleya
bowringiana (named in horror of Mr. Bowring) [now classified as Guarianthe
bowringiana], a bifoliate species from former British Honduras, which bears
heads of beautiful 2 1/2” purple flowers in late summer or early fall. While it has
been often used, the best know hybrid from this species is Cattleya Portia (C.
bowringiana x C. labiata). Truly a magnificent grex which has probably been
remade a number of times. It was first made by Veitch in 1897. As a note of
interest: the registration authority endeavors to not accept registrations of similar
names within a given genus. Unfortunately, while it is now history, a hybrid of
Cattleya bowringiana
C. Armstrongiae x C. bowringiana was registered by H. G. Alexander a C. Porcia
in 1927. There would be no problem except for the fact that one clone from this hybrid was truly outstanding
and received an Award of Merit from the Royal Horticultural Society. It is still in common cultivation both for
its beauty and use as a parent.
An increasing important bifoliate Cattleya is C. aurantiaca from Central America [now classified as Guarianthe
aurantiaca]. This small-flowered orange species, while in cultivation for
many years, has been receiving increased attention because of its gene pool
for orange and yellow with partial or total absence of genes for purple. The
most outstanding illustration of this is Slc. Jewel Box (Slc. Anzac
‘Orchidhurst’ x C. aurantiaca). Perhaps the true use has been in the use of
selected red cultivars of Slc. Jewel Box for breeding reds such as Slc. Madge
Fordyce and Slc. Hazel Boyd.
Article continues next issue.
Guarianthe aurantiaca
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Virginia Orchid Society
2013-2014 Officers:
Linda Lawrence
President & AOS Affiliate
[email protected]
Daune Poklis
President-Elect
[email protected]
Chuck Gardner
Vice President & Program Chair
[email protected]
Dick Burch
Treasurer
[email protected]
Sue Fulghum
Corresponding Secretary &
Membership Chair
[email protected]
Reed Ginn
Recording Secretary
[email protected]
Valerie Thacker
Show Chair & Past President
[email protected]
Bernadette Banks
Hospitality Chair
[email protected]
Henry Randolph
Judges Forum
[email protected]
Stephen Via
Library Chair
[email protected]
Debby Sauer
Education Chair
[email protected]
2013 BROS Show Recap
David Sombach and Garland Hanson placed a wonderful orchid
display at the Blue Ridge Orchid Society (BROS) Show on
Halloween! The show theme was “Flight of Orchids” and was
selected to compliment the grand opening of the Butterfly Habitat
at the “Center in the Square” in downtown Roanoke, Virginia.
The Center in the Square is a beautiful newly-renovated building
that houses four museums, world-class aquariums, a roof-top
pavilion, and performance venue. We
received a tour from the volunteer
program Manager, Kathleen Fort. The
orchid show was hosted on the ground
floor at the base of a 7-story atrium
between gorgeous ocean aquariums.
With ample street access for the
general public and natural lighting, it
made for a wonderful show venue.
The VOS orchid exhibit took about 3 hours to erect, comprised of
3 square tables in an “L” shape surrounding a column and included
21 potted and mounted orchids entered by Art Burke, Valerie Thacker and Frank Drew.
Plant registration was simple and we had plenty of support from the BROS members. The
exhibit attracted a LOT of attention and host society was
appreciative of VOS’s support in their show.
Judging results from the show bestowed16 ribbons,
including best in Cymbidium Alliance (Valerie’s plant)
on VOS members’ plants.
The VOS show committee would like to thank Art Burke,
Valerie Thacker, and Frank Drew for allowing us to use
their plants in the
show; Garland Hanson
and David Sombach
for taking the exhibit
down to Roanoke and putting the exhibit together; and Sue
& Tom Fulghum for breaking down the exhibit and bringing
the plants back to Richmond.
Robyn Voytilla
Publicity Chair
[email protected]
Carol Hollenbeck
Webmaster
[email protected]
Patti St. Clair
Endowment Chair
[email protected]
Ronald Geraci
Newsletter Editor
[email protected]
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All photos by David Sombach