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Orchid
News # 34
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XIX WOC
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Alan Koch Golden Country Orchids |
It was love at first sight for me…the brightness
of the flowers held well above the foliage on a strong
upright inflorescence. I knew right away I needed to
use this wonderful species in my breeding program.
Brieger’s Laelia was first described by
Blumenschein in 1960 and placed in the Subgenus Parviflorae,
Section Parviflorae. Recently, Francisco Miranda
placed the entire Subgenus Parviflorae into
the Genus Hoffmannseggella based on
morphological differences. DNA evidence will
show this to be the proper move. Brieger’s Laelia is one of
the easiest members of this Genus to grow and flower
and it is one of the warmer growers. In Brazil, it
is found in the state of Minas Gerais southeast of
Diamantina at 800 to 1100 meters elevation. Most of
the plants in situ are tetraploid; however a few diploid
plants occur with smaller, less showy flowers. The
Tetraploid plants have 80 chromosomes, and breed well
with the Cattleya alliance.
The rupicolous or rock growing Laelias long have been
considered difficult to grow, and Hof. briegeri is
no exception. This reputation has been earned with
many an experienced grower lamenting the problems they
have experienced with this group. To understand how
they grow in situ has been part of the problem. Growers
give these plants far too much light, like they receive
in the wild, and this tends to burn them up. The only
thing that seems to carry over from the plants natural
growing conditions is their need to dry out between
watering, so the modern practice is to plant them in
small stones about the size of a pea, although some
people are successful in bark mixes as well as sphagnum.
We like to pot ours in clay pots to insure that they
dry well between watering. We back off on the water
in the fall and winter and get a far better flowering
in the spring, which makes it even more desireable
in breeding. In the Northern Hemisphere, Hof. briegeri flowers
in May thru June. Even though the plants grow with
warm days and cool at night, they will still grow and
flower well in warm climates such as South Florida.
Knowing that the showy plants have all been tetraploid,
we have been careful only to cross Hof. briegeri with
tetraploid parents to avoid sterility for future breeding.
The first hybrid we made was Sl. Pole Star a
cross of Sophronitis coccinea and Laelia
briegeri (Hoffmannseggella). The Sophronitis was
tetraploid, so that we could breed on. We were looking
for the strengths of both parents to show in the progeny.
From the Hof. briegeri we wanted to impart the tendency
for close upright growth, a stronger inflorescence,
better flower count , warmth tolerance and strong lip
color. From the Sophronitis coccinea,
we hoped to get showy, fuller flowers with
diamond dust texture, multiple blooms per
year, faster and more vigorous growth, and
multiple leads allowing showier plants more
quickly. The hybrid has given us seedlings
that have been vigorous, warmth tolerant,
easier to grow than both parents and very
floriferous. The only trait that didn’t
come through for us was the fuller, rounder
flowers for which we had hoped. The shape
was halfway between the starry shape of the Hoffmannsegella
briegeri and the Sophronitis coccinea, with
its full round shape.
We have made over twenty crosses with Sl. Pole
Star to date and have been very pleased with it as
a parent. The progeny grow quickly and uniformly in
flask as well as when they are removed. The Hoffmannseggella
briegeri imparts close upright growth with flowers
held well above the foliage, while the Sophronitis
coccinea gives vigorous compact growth with full-round
flowers. A perfect example of this is found in Slc. Sierra
Gem, a cross of Sl. Pole Star with Slc. Hazel
Boyd; a plant with vigorous upright growth, flowers
held above the foliage, and rounder form. In short,
we achieved a plant that was easier to grow than the
Hazel Boyd, with more compact, upright growth that
was clean and flowers of the same bright sunset tones
that were only slightly smaller. When using Sl.
Pole Star in breeding with splash-petal parents, we
achieve vivid flaring and flatter flowers.
Two hybrids that have been used extensively worldwide
are Blc. Love Sound and Lc. Tokyo Magic.
Both have been used in a similar way to the way we
have used Sl. Pole Star, but the progeny are
not as consistent and the growth is not as even. The
interesting thing about Lc. Tokyo Magic (C. Irene
Finney x L. briegeri), is that a standard lavender Cattleya crossed
to the bright yellow briegeri resulted in semi-alba
progeny. With this knowledge in hand, many breeders
have used this trait to intensify splash petal patterns
in the petals. This is accomplished because the briegeri
has a tendency to wipe out the color of the petals
while intensifying the lip color, which is expressed
in the petals.
We have found that in breeding, primary hybrids are
strong and consistent parents as evidenced by Sl. Pole
Star. We have made two other primary hybrids with Hoffmannseggella
briegeri, one with Cattleya walkeriana and
one with C. harrisoniana. We have flowered several
of the progeny with C. walkeriana and many have
been semi-alba with diamond dust texture long-lasting
flowers. We have great hope for this as a future parent
for semi-alba splash petal and lavender breeding and
we know that the walkeriana background will give long-lasting
flowers of good size and shape. We look forward to
what the future will bring.
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