Tuesday, March 4, 2008

Random plant event: Epilaeliocattleya Don Herman 'Gold Rush' flowers

Fourth verse, same as the third. I have to say I'm coming to like orchids better, if for no other reason than they make for relatively quick blog posts.

I finally found a source for converting the abbreviations to full genus-level names: Orchid Genus Names. (.pdf file) So the "Bak." 'Silver Chalice' I had trouble with in a previous post turns out to be Bakerara, which is, amazingly, a four-genus cross: Brassia x Miltonia x Odontoglossum x Oncidium. The flower in today's post is a three-genus cross: Cattleya x Epidendrum x Laelia.

Not that that's a huge thing, knowing the general size and shape of the ancestry here, but it makes me feel better. The plant becomes more comprehensible, somehow.



This particular one manages to look a lot better in the picture than it does in real life, somehow. It stands out on the table because it's the only bright yellow flower on the table at the moment, but next to the others, this one kind of looks plain: it's not delicately shaded like the Phalaenopsis, boldly striped like the Bakerara, or all frilly like the Beallara (picture pending); it's just a little yellow flower with a bit of contrasting color near the throat. But if you can't compare to the other ones directly, our Epilaeliocattleya here is ennobled.

And yes, in case you were wondering: we probably are going to be seeing at least a couple more orchid pictures here fairly soon, since work is very busy and I'm having a lot of trouble finding time and energy to write posts once I get home at night. I have at least three more orchid pictures to go. Maybe more. I swear this isn't going to turn into an orchid blog, though: we're just having, like, an Orchid Festival, or something.


2 comments:

Anonymous said...

What the heck, maybe it's because they're the most interesting thing blooming right now, but I'm in the midst of an orchid obsession myself, so BRING ON THE ORCHID POSTS!

Andrew said...

A (probably) related but much much more interesting orchid (in my opinion) is Guaricyclia Kyoguchi (Formerly an Epicatt but was reclassified because Guarianthe used to be in Cattleya and Encyclia was in Epidendrum).

I suspect the same parents were used in the Epilaeliocattleya. Overall the colour and patterning are the same but the shape is nicer.