Hybridizing With Nodosa

8/22/2019 Hybridizing With Nodosa

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Renee and Marvin Gerber1

Hybridizing with

Brassavola nodosaWHO COULD resist an orchid that blooms three times a year, growsvigorously, forgives your mistakes and has spotted, large-lipped flowersthat smell great? Not us! That's why we enjoy growing hybrids ofBrassa-vola nodosa andBrassavola tuberculata (perrinii).

Often touted as the ideal orchids for beginners, Brassavola nodosahybrids are popular among serious amateurs and commercial hybridizersalike and not just because they are easy to grow. These Brassavolaoffspring bring to the cattleyas unique qualities of color and shape thatare unmatched in other breeding lines today.

To understand these colorful and unusual hybrids, consider the mostcommonly used parent,Brassavola nodosa. It was originally described by

Linnaeus asEpidendrum nodosum. At various times, it was classified as aCymbidium and a Bletia before Dr. John Lindley transferred it toBrassavola in 1831. It is found over a wide range of the WesternHemisphere, from Mexico and the West Indies through Central America toVenezuela, Peru and much of tropical South America. It growsepiphytically on mangroves and even on cactuses from sea level toelevations of 3,000 feet.The plants have narrow, hard leaves with a central lengthwise groove.These leaves vary in size from 1/8- to inch in width and from 3 - tomore than 12 inches in length. The flowers are borne on an erectinflorescence which arises from the leaf axil as the new growth matures.Each inflorescence can carry up to seven or eight flowers, which can beas large as nearly 6" (15 cm) across. The flowers have very narrow sepals

and petals (1/8 inch or approximately 0.4 cm) and a lip that starts outtubular and opens wide, producing a heart-shaped terminal area as large as2" (5 cm) across. The sepals and petals are pale green to off-white. The lip

is usually purewhite, often withfine dark spottingin the throat. Thepotent nighttimefragrance earnsBrassavola nodosathe nicknameLady of the Night.Although plantscan flower anytime of the year,the most commonblooming monthsare from May

throughSeptember.

In its hybrids,Brassavola nodosais dominant intransmission of itsshape but recessive

Brassocattleya Hippodamia Robert, AM/AOS (B.

nodosa x C. aclandiae) is one of the earliestnodosa

hybrids, registered in 1908. This cultivar resulted from

a remake of the cross. It was grown by R. F. Orchids

and photographed by Bob Smith.


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in its color transmission. Its progeny almost always take the color of the oth-er parent. Despite this, Brassavola nodosa provides its "children" withspotting and other unusual markings on the lip. These originate as the finespotting in the proximal portion of the Brassavola nodosa lip but aremagnified considerably in the progeny. It is customary to use Brassavolanodosa as the pollen parent to achieve the best results when it is used inhybridizing.

Culture ofBrassavola nodosa and its hybrids is very simple. The plantscome from areas that experience extreme wet and dry seasons. Therefore,they normally rest during the dry season and grow vigorously during therainy season. They will grow and bloom constantly under Cattleya lightconditions and a temperature range of 60-95FWe are able to keep ourBrassavola nodosa hybrids growing and bloomingfor approximately 11 months out of the year in Houston, Texas. We waterevery 5-10 days, depending on light and temperature conditions, and wefertilize with a weak (about 1/4 strength) fertilizer solution every watering.We rotate our fertilizer between a balanced 20-20-20, a bloom booster andan organic (such as fish emulsion), using 20-20-20 at least half the time andthe others more often during the prime growing season. We are nowgrowing in a mix of four parts charcoal, four parts perlite and one part

commercial peat, such as Metro-mix or Pro-mix. We grow in plastic pots,which theBrassavola nodosa hybrids seem to like very much.

The early hybrids ofBrassavola nodosa were registered during the firstdecade of this century. One of these hybrids, Brassocattleya Hippodamia(B. nodosa X C. aclandiae) might hold the all-time record for intervalbetween registration of a hybrid (1908) and its first quality award from theAmerican Orchid Society (for 'Catherine Stephens', which won a HighlyCommended Certificate of 78 points in 1984).

Few hybrids were registeredfrom 1908 until 1941, whenHawaiian hybridizers startedusing Brassavola nodosa as aparent and registering its crosses.

Brassocattleya Nanipuakea (B.nodosa x C. Hardyana) wasregistered in 1941 by HiroseOrchid Nursery of Honolulu. Thatsame nursery registeredBrassanthe (Brassocattleya)Maikai (B. nodosa x Gur. (C.)bowringiana) in 1944.

The first truly successfulBrassavola nodosa hybrid, interms of award recognition as wellas general acceptance by growers,was Brassocattleya Binosa (B.nodosa x C. bicolor), registered in1950 by another Hawaiiangrower, Richard Tanaka of Hilo.Brassocattleya Binosa hasreceived eight AOS qualityawards (two Awards of Merit andsix Highly CommendedCertificates). Although we havenever seen an official survey, we

feel certain thatBrassocattleya Binosa would be among the top 10 orchidhybrids in terms of the number of greenhouses in which a clone of thisclassicBrassavola nodosa hybrid is found.Brassocattleya Binosa, with its

BrassocattleyaBinosa (B. nodosa x

C. bicolor) is one of the first

successful Brassavola nodosa

hybrids. This is Bc.Binosa Wabash

Valley AM/AOS (85pts.), grown by

Louis J. Corna, Dallas TX.


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apple green sepals and petals, its lip brightly spotted, dotted and splashedwith purple and its head of up to 10 flowers, puts on quite a show, usuallyblooming at least twice a year when a plant is mature with 10-12pseudobulbs.Other noteworthy hybrids of that period include Encyvola Phoenix(B. no-dosax E. phoenicea), Brassocattleya Morning Glory (B. nodosax C.purpurata) andBrassocattleya Charles J. Fay(B. nodosaX C. crispa).

Hybridizing withBrassavola nodosa increased substantially in the 1960s,with almost 40 hybrids registered. The best-known hybrid of the '60s wasBrassocattleya Star Ruby (B. nodosa x C. Batalinii), registered in 1965by the late W. W. Goodale Moir of Honolulu, one of the most imaginative,innovative and prolific hybridizers of all time. Brassocattleya Star Ruby,with very dark brown sepals and petals and bright red-purple lip, hasreceived two AMs and one HCC from the AOS and is very popular andwidely grown.

Other noteworthyBrassavola nodosa hybrids of the '60s includeBrassocattleya Nodata (B. nodosa X C. guttata),Brassocattleya RichardLarkin (C. Portia xB. nodosa),Brassocattleya Cindosa (B. nodosa x C.cinnabarina) andBrassocattleya Richard Mueller (B. nodosa X C.milleri).

As you can see, most of the hybrids ofBrassavola nodosa registeredthrough 1970 were primary or near-primary hybrids, crossing a Cattleya orLaelia species or simple hybrid with Brassavola nodosa. Starting in 1972,more complex hybrids were crossed with Brassavola nodosa and the re-sulting progeny were far superior to most of the early Brassavola nodosahybrids.

In 1972,Brassocattleya EnigmaVariations (B. nodosa xC. Lee Langford) wasregistered by FortCaroline Orchids ofJacksonville, Florida,one of the commercialorchid nurseries to seethe potential ofBrassavola nodosa inhybridizing and use it ina number of crosses.

Two years later,Rhynchobrassoleya

Gohl Lee (Rlc. GoldenSlippers x B. nodosa)was registered by FredA. Stewart, Inc. of SanGabriel, California, one

of the leadingcommercial nurseries in

Brassavola nodosa hybridizing. The pure yellow-gold flowers with theBrassavola nodosa-like lip of the cultivar 'Golden Doll' make this anoutstanding example of aBrassavola nodosa hybrid.

Also in 1974,Brassocattleya Naples Night (B. nodosa x C. Zada Fields)was registered by Voo Doo Orchids of Naples, Florida. This has proven tobe another outstandingBrassavola nodosa hybrid, with large flowers (to5"or approximately 12.5cm across), relatively wide sepals and petals and atruly incredible lip. The lip on Brassocattleya Naples Night Remar,HCC/AOS measured almost 2 inches (6.2 cm) when its award wasgranted. This cultivar displays a pattern of myriad spots, dots and splashesof purple, yellow and white. Voo Doo Nursery, with Claude Timmons

The floriferous qualities ofB. nodosa are seen in

BrassantheMaikai Mayumi, CCM/AOS

(84pts), grown by Wayne Eyles, Ontario

Canada. The other parent is the multifloral

Guarianthe (Cattleya) bowringiana.


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doing most of the earlyhybridizing, along with itssuccessor firm at the samelocation in Naples, TikiTropical Gardens, with BillStarr making the crosses,made dozens ofBrassavolanodosa hybrids. Their better-known crosses includeBrassocatanthe Magic (C.Fiery x Bsn. Bill Worsley[B. nodosa x Gur (C.)aurantiaca]), Brassoepiden-drum Pseudosa (B. nodosa xEpi. pseudepidendrum),Brassocatanthe Merry (C.Antonica Fredrick x Bsn.Bill Worsley),Brassocatanthe RoyalHarbor (C. Ronselensis X

Bsn. Maikai) and Rhynchavolarum Janette Reder (Bepi. Pseudosa X Rl.glauca).

The most awarded Brassavola nodosa hybrid of all time isBrassocattleya Keowee (C. Lorraine Shirai x B. nodosa), which wasregistered in 1975 by Carter and Holmes of Newberry, South Carolina. Thecross was originated by Earl J. Small Orchids, Inc. of Pinellas Park,Florida, using the highly awarded Cattleya (Laeliocattleya)Lorraine Shiraias the pod parent. The progeny of this yellow with red lip crossed withBrassavola nodosa mostly bloomed with flowers of a light to bright yellowbase color on all floral segments and very large, varied and unusual lips.The best-known, Brassocattleya Keowee 'Mendenhall', AM/AOS, hasheavy red markings almost covering the large lip. The cultivar 'Remar',AM/AOS has reddish brown spotting over the distal half of the lip. The

latter cultivar had 10flowers measuring morethan 7" (18 cm) acrosswhen it was granted itsaward in August of 1987!Brassocattleya Keowee hasnow received 10 AOSquality awards, includingfive AMs, four HCCs andone AQ (Award ofQuality).

More recently, a numberof hybrids have been made

using one parent which ishalf Brassavola nodosa.The dominance ofBrassavola nodosa ininfluencing growth habitand flower shape continuesin these second-generationhybrids. Its recessivenessin influencing color alsocontinues. In addition tothe previously mentionedBrassocatanthe Merry,Brassocatanthe Magic,

One of the more promising recent hybrids

ofB. nodosa is BrassocatantheRoman

Holiday (Ctt. Chocolate Drop x B. nodosa),

represented by the cultivar John Kelly,

HCC/AOS (78pts.), grown by Joyce Kelly

and photographed by Bob Smith.

Brassoepidendrum Pseudosa Hutch,

AM/AOS (83pts.)

This unusual primary hybrid combines

Brassavola nodosa with the strikingly bizarre

E idendrum seude idendrum .


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Rhynchobrassoleya Gohl Lee Golden Doll (Rlc. Golden

Slippers xB.nodosa) grown by Marvin & Rene Gerber and

photographed by Marvin Gerber.

Rhynchavolarum (Brassoepidendrum) Janette Reder Remar,

HCC/AOS (77pts.) (Bepi. Pseudosa xRl. glauca) grown by

Marvin & Rene Gerber; photographed by Bill Sauthoff.


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Brassocatanthe RoyalHarbor andRhynchavolarum Janette

Reder,second-generationBrassavola nodosa hybridsinclude Guarvolcia(Vaughnara) Fairy Tales(Eyv. Phoenix x Gur. (C.)aurantiaca). BrassantheMaiaca (Bsn. Maikai x Gur.aurantiaca), BrassocattleyaOsceola (Bc. Nodata x C.bicolor], andRhynchobrassoleya BusyBee (Rcv. JimmineyCricket [B. nodosa x Rlc.Digbyana] x C. forbesii).The newest trend in

Brassavola nodosahybridizing is the use of thehighly recognized and verypopular Brassocattleya

Binosa as a parent. From 1979 through 1986, 28 hybrids usingBrassocattleya Binosa were registered. Some of the progeny includeBrassocattleya Cute Aza Bug ( x C. Brabantiae), Brassocattleya HunabuLegend ( x C. aclandiae), Brassocattleya Memoria Vida Lee ( x C.Brazilian Treasure), Stellamizutaara Hawaiian Gem (x Ctna. Keith Roth)andBrassocattleya (Potinara)Gypsy Red (x C. Vallezac).

New Brassavola nodosa hybrids are being made and registered all thetime and true "Brassavola nodosa nuts" should watch hybridizers' listingsfor the latest crosses being offered. Some new crosses with good potentialfor high-quality flowers include Brassocatanthe Roman Holiday (Ctt.

Chocolate Drop x B.nodosa),

RhynchobrassoleyaNatchez Belle (Rlc.Toshie Aoki x Bc.Binosa) and (C. Bill'sRed XB. nodosa).

Although the hybridsofBrassavola nodosa faroutnumber other trueBrassavola hybrids, therehave been some veryfine hybrids made with

other brassavolas,especially Brassavolatuberculata (perrinii).This species is verysimilar to Brassavolanodosa in growth habitbut the plants ofBrassavola tuberculataare generally larger thanthose of Brassavolanodosa and the

individual flowers ofBrassavola tuberculata are smaller but with moreflowers per inflorescence (up to 17 or 18). Brassavola tuberculata

Brassocattleya (Brassolaelia) Morning

Glory Starbek, JC/AOS

Cattleya (Laelia)purpurata is combined

withB. nodosa to create this beautiful

hybrid, which was registered in 1958 andhas won two awards from the American

Orchid Society.

Rhynchovola (Brassavola) Jimminey Cricket is

an unusual intrageneric cross utilizingB. nodosa

and the classic frilly lippedRhyncholaelia

digbyana. It was registered by Fred A. Stewart,

Inc. of San Gabriel, CA in 1974. This specimen

was grown by Dragonstone Orchids.


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generally will bloom only one time per year whereas Brassavola nodosablooms as each growth matures, usually two or three times per year.

Rhynchobrassoleya Everything Nice (Rlc. Memoria Helen Brown xB.tuberculata)is, up until now, the most outstanding progeny ofBrassavolaperrinii. This grex has received seven AOS awards, including two AMsand five HCCs. A new hybrid of Brassavola tuberculata,Rhynchobrassoleya Lahaina Novelty (B. perrinii xRlc. Waikiki Gold), hasreceived one HCC already and we are sure that more recognition will fol-low.

Another Brassavola species, Brassavola cordata (=subulifolia), is oneparent ofBrassavola Little Stars, with Brassavola nodosa being the otherparent. This is a charming flower, looking like a smaller Brassavolatuberculata, with heads of 10-15 flowers. The plants are vigorous growersand are free-blooming.

There is no denying the classic beauty of a large, full purple or whiteCattleya hybrid. But if your taste runs a little more toward the unusual orthe whimsical and you like flowers that are different, then you will love thehybrids ofBrassavola nodosa and its relatives. They are free-floweringand very rewarding, making few demands on the grower. Spice up yourcollection with some of these interesting orchids.

Brassocattleya (Brassolaeliocattleya) Keowee (C. Lorraine Shirai xB. nodosa) is the most-awarded offspring ofBrassavola nodosa,

having now won 10 AOS quality awards. Shown above is the

stunning cultivar Hanabu, AM/AOS (84pts.), which was grown by

Huan Bui Orchids and photographed by Bob Smith.


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1. 5003 South Braeswood Boulevard, Texas 77096.

Clockwise from the upper left:

1. Brassocattleya Memoria Vida Lee

Limelight, AM/AOS (Bc. Binosa x C.

Brazilian Treasure) Grower: Mr. & Mrs. Lionel

Fernandez-Capella, photographer: Mei-Ling

Melndez.

2. Brassocattleya Nodata Maili, HCC/AOS

(78pts.) (B. nodosa x C. guttata) Grower: JohnRobsan.

3. Brassocattleya Star Ruby Kirsch, AM/AOS

(82pts.) (B. nodosa x Bc. Batalinii) Grower:

Jane Perry.

4. Brassocattleya (Brassolaeliocattleya) Naples

Night Cariads Dusk, AM/AOS (80pts) (B.

nodosa x C. Zada Fields) Grower: Marianne R.

Matthews)


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Documents

Hybridizing With Nodosa