This is stupid, because I had a couple of genetics courses in school...
but I never gave much thought to variations in orchid crosses.
Probably because I only have one of each of the few I have, except for
this potinara which has finally reached blooming size. There are at
least 3 plants in the pot, which were already so intertwined when I got
it as a seedling, that I just left them together. So the first one
bloomed last April, & was beautiful, & then there was another bloom
this April, which I just assumed was exactly the same as the previous
one, & never thought to compare it with the pictures from last year. I
think it was a very close match because I didn't notice anything
different about it. Then a 2nd flower has opened this month, &
something seemed a bit funny about it, so I finally dug out last year's
photo & there are obvious differences, not big ones, but differences.
I thought this was very cool, & felt dumb not to have thought about
this before.
So I was just wondering, for those of you who grow your own from seed,
how much variation occurs in a cross between two plants, & whether the
cross is always given the same name, or if it's called something new if
the variation is really different from the average.
Forgive a dumb question which is probably pretty basic to many of you.
It's just cool to see some genetic variation happening on your kitchen
windowsill :)

Alison

P.S. It's a Pot. Memoria Yoshi Tsubaki, & no, I haven't got a photo of
the new flower yet; I am not digital but do plan to take a few pix if I
can get a few minutes' time.

Alison,

There will be tons of variation in any sexual cross - variations in size,
form, color, and every other genetically determined trait. The distribution
is typically a "bell curve", so the majority of the offspring will be
relatively similar, and those that are wildly different will be few.

Each and every one of those offspring are given the same grex name, and if
they warrant it, are given individual cultivar names to separate their
identities.

--

Ray Barkalow - First Rays Orchids - www.firstrays.com
Plants, Supplies, Artwork, Books and Lots of Free Info!


<pho_ca [at] yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1151290856.650776.68750 [at] b68g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> This is stupid, because I had a couple of genetics courses in school...
> but I never gave much thought to variations in orchid crosses.
> Probably because I only have one of each of the few I have, except for
> this potinara which has finally reached blooming size. There are at
> least 3 plants in the pot, which were already so intertwined when I got
> it as a seedling, that I just left them together. So the first one
> bloomed last April, & was beautiful, & then there was another bloom
> this April, which I just assumed was exactly the same as the previous
> one, & never thought to compare it with the pictures from last year. I
> think it was a very close match because I didn't notice anything
> different about it. Then a 2nd flower has opened this month, &
> something seemed a bit funny about it, so I finally dug out last year's
> photo & there are obvious differences, not big ones, but differences.
> I thought this was very cool, & felt dumb not to have thought about
> this before.
> So I was just wondering, for those of you who grow your own from seed,
> how much variation occurs in a cross between two plants, & whether the
> cross is always given the same name, or if it's called something new if
> the variation is really different from the average.
> Forgive a dumb question which is probably pretty basic to many of you.
> It's just cool to see some genetic variation happening on your kitchen
> windowsill :)
>
> Alison
>
> P.S. It's a Pot. Memoria Yoshi Tsubaki, & no, I haven't got a photo of
> the new flower yet; I am not digital but do plan to take a few pix if I
> can get a few minutes' time.
>

When I crossed a mini-purple blue hawaiian with an unnamed minicatt that
was waxy pale pink with dark red spots, all the resulting plants were
mini-catt size and all were pink. The shape of the lip varied some, the
extent of spotting varied, the exact shade of pink varied, but that
was all. I crossed two off these plants and sent them off to be flasked
but the flasking service disappeared--with my flasks and presumably
others. Phone disconnected, no response to email etc.

Janet