BIBLIOGRAPHY
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This article first appeared in the September 1996 issue of Orchids, page 944, and is reproduced here with the permission of the author.
BRASSAVOLAS AND THEIR HYBRIDS may become "the" orchids of the 21st century, especially if new lines of breeding fulfill the promise of hybrids just now entering the orchid world.
In most orchid growers' minds, the words "cattleya hybrid" call to mind a big, lush, purple or white flower, like the widely known Brassolaeliocattleya Mem. Crispin Rosales or Cattleya Bob Betts. These full, round flowers have become the standard image of the modern cattleya hybrid. Most growers have a few of these "knock-your-eyes-out" cattleyas in their collections.
But tastes change, evolving and growing to include new and different concepts of beauty. Just as growers of modern paphiopedilum hybrids include specimens of the newer so-called "exotic" primary or near-primary hybrids in their collections, some cattleya growers are now reaching beyond the plump "cabbages" of yesteryear to leaner hybrids of distinctive shapes and striking colors.
A group of elegantly unconventional cattleya hybrids is being bred from the smaller-flowered Brassavola species. These hybrids come from Brassavola perrinii, Brassavola cucullata, Brassavola cordata and, most often, Brassavola nodosa.
Modern taxonomists have separated two other Brassavola species - digbyana and glauca - from the rest of the genus Brassavola, designating them as Rhyncholaelia. There reasons for this separation are technical and scientific, and need not concern us here. But when we visually compare the hybrids they produce with the hybrids made with other species in the Brassavola genus, the separation seems to make more sense.
Brassavola digbyana, and to a lesser extent, Brassavola glauca, which are now placed in the genus Rhyncholaelia, have most commonly been used in the past to impart large size, heavy substance and large ruffled lips to the flowers of mainstream cattleya hybrids.
The other Brassavola species offer their hybrid progeny different gifts, among them generally smaller flowers with sleek, elegant, unconventional shapes. They have exotically shaped and marked lips, floriferousness, and great heat tolerance. Generally, these brassavolas and their hybrids bloom generously in the hot summer months.
Brassavolas have been a part of the orchid consciousness of the western world since 1793, when Rear Admiral William Bligh (of H.M.S. Bounty fame) brought specimens of B. cucullata to England.
England's growers were not much impressed. In fact, as J. N. Rentoul points out in his six-volume work Growing Orchids, "Brassavolas were so far down the scale (of aesthetic value, presumably) in the late nineteenth century that Veitch's Manual of Orchidaceous Plants did not list them in the 1887-94 edition, even the magnificent Brassavola digbyana, which was catalogued as a Laelia with Laelia glauca... .
"The history of the genus as a whole," Rentoul continues, "shows neglect by collectors, nurserymen and growers alike... ."
Small wonder that hybridization efforts with these species have been spotty and generally disorganized, and little effort seems to have been made to determine, by organized breeding programs, which characteristics are unique, valuable, strong and persistent within the genus and its various species.
With few outstanding exceptions, earlier hybrids were often smaller-flowered and rather pallid in color when compared with more-conventional cattleya hybrids.
Most experts agree that the genus Brassavola is a small one (approximately 15 species), all of which are tropical American in origin, distributed from Mexico through Central America and the West Indies to Brazil and Argentina. This wide range of habitat could be considered evidence of the genus' toughness and tolerance of a wide range of different growing conditions, characteristics that the species frequently passed to their progeny.
The genus is named for Sr. Antonio Musa Brassavola, a Venetian nobleman and botanist. Bechtel, Cribb and Launert note in their The Manual of Cultivated Orchid Species that "Brassavola is allied to Laelia, being similar in having 8 pollinia in pairs, each joined by parallel caudicles." In Brassavola, however, the pollinia are of two unequal sizes.
Of the 15 or so species in the genus Brassavola, only nine are registered in Sander's as having been used in hybridization, and of these nine only four have been used with any frequency: Brassavola cucullata (the type species), B. cordata, B. perrinii and B. nodosa, the champion parent of the genus. Through 1992, B. nodosa parented 190 hybrids, B. cordata was used in 21, B. cucullata in 21, and B. perrinii in 32. The other five species each were used in less than 10 hybrids apiece.
A scattering of other B. cucullata hybrids has been registered since, more in recent years as tastes have become more sophisticated.
Selecting the right opposite parent can take the best genes from B. cucullata , preserving its exotic form and bringing to the progeny greater substance and size, thus producing an unusual and pleasing flower.
Brassavola cordata makes its first appearance in Sander's as a parent a relatively short time ago. In 1959, it appears as one parent of a cross made by W. W. Goodale Moir called Brassolaeliocattleya Patty (x Lc. Nugget).
From 1959 through 1992, 23 crosses have been registered with B. cordata as one parent. None has received an AOS award. The other parents have been scattered randomly throughout the Cattleya Alliance, and most of these crosses are not in general circulation. The Hawaiian breeders have made some crosses with B. cordata, but no organized effort appears to be underway to explore B. cordata's specific assets of relatively miniature growth and great floriferousness.
The first B. perrinii hybrid was registered in 1909, and through 1992 there have been 32 hybrids registered. Although 32 may not sound like many, compared with B. nodosa's record of 190, there have been more than 14 AOS awards given to hybrids of B. perrinii.
Brassavola perrinii has flowers that closely resemble those of B. nodosa. Its hybrids tend to carry more flowers per stem than those of B. nodosa, and to produce flowers somewhat smaller than the best of the B. nodosa hybrids.
One of the best of the Brassavola perrinii hybrids is Brassolaeliocattleya Everything Nice (x Blc. Mem. Helen Brown). Evidently, the AOS judges concur with this opinion, because the grex has eight AOS awards. The flowers of the awarded Blc. Everything Nice clones are shapely and fairly large, with firm substance and relatively full, rounded lips, and are carried five to eight on a stem.
Brassocattleya Lilliputian Princess, a primary cross of B. perrinii with Cattleya loddigesii, has a more diminutive charm than Blc. Everything Nice. The awarded Bc. Lilliputian Princess 'Cameo', HCC/AOS, carries clouds of small, flat pink flowers with white lips. In full flower, it makes a delightful specimen plant in a relatively small container.
Since 1908, when the first B. nodosa cross was registered, there have been 190 crosses registered (through 1992). And the parade continues. Over the years, B. nodosa hybrids have earned more than 60 AOS awards.
Some B. nodosa hybrids stand out in the orchid consciousness more than others when the phrase "nodosa hybrid" is mentioned. Brassolaeliocattleya Keowee (Lc. Lorraine Shirai x B. nodosa, registered by Carter and Holmes in 1975 and in wide current distribution, is one of the outstanding benchmark crosses of this group. Large in size, in a range of colors from soft tannish yellow to bright canary, the flowers with their full, exotically marked lips have a commanding presence on a mature, well-grown plant. The grex has 13 AOS awards to its credit through 1993, including an Award of Quality.
Brassocattleya Binosa, a primary hybrid of B. nodosa with Cattleya bicolor registered by R. Tanaka in 1950, is another widely known and grown B. nodosa cross. A cross of two species, most of the progeny resemble each other strongly.
In the 1970s and early 1980s, Huan Bui, a hybridizer in Miami, Florida, began to use Bc. Binosa in a series of crosses that have also been fairly widely distributed. Best known among them is Brassolaeliocattleya Mem. Vida Lee (Bc. Binosa x Blc. Brazilian Treasure). Several clones of Blc. Mem. Vida Lee have been awarded and some attractive clones have been meristemmed for wide distribution.
Another older B. nodosa primary cross is Brassocattleya Nodata (x C. guttata. Many orchid collections have a plant of this cross, but through 1993, no clone of Bc. Nodata has been awarded. Nevertheless, a mature plant of Bc. Nodata makes a handsome specimen plant for exhibition.
Most primary hybrids of B. nodosa are rather small-flowered and open in outline. One outstanding exception is Bl. Morning Glory 'Verily', HCC/AOS, which has a natural spread of 4-3/4 inches. It is only when hybridizers begin to use more-complex hybrids as the opposite parent to the Brassavola species that the progeny become more "rich, various and strange," to borrow Mr. Shakespeare's phrase, and sometimes they can be truly spectacular.
Large size is also a bonus of these more-recent registrations. The Hawaiians made a cross of Blc. Meditation x B. nodosa that has been registered as Brassolaeliocattleya Ponderosa. The flowers of one clone - 'Cariad's Cumulus', AM/AOS - have a natural spread of 5-3/8 inches and the plant is notably generous with them.
A recently made cross of Laeliocattleya Royal Emperor 'Wade', AM/AOS, with B. nodosa, registered as Blc. Texas Royalty, consistently produces progeny whose flowers measure 5-1/2 inches or larger and bloom in nonfading art shades. A mature plant of this cross, blooming on two or more leads at once, is a majestic sight, comparable to mature plants of hybrids of more-mainstream cattleya breeding. Although progeny from this cross have only recently begun to bloom, one AOS quality award has already been granted.
Furthermore, experimental second-generation Brassavola hybrid crosses are in the works. These hybrids aim to preserve the special beauties of the first-generation crosses while bringing to their flowers an added fullness and substance. Some of these second-generation crosses have already begun to bloom
What is emerging from a comprehensive examination of these hybrids and their species forbears is a picture of a sofar underutilized genus that has great breeding potential. As hybridizers begin to analyze the strong and weak points of these hybrids, a new and different style of orchids will begin to enter the market, and into the greenhouses of modern, sophisticated orchid growers.