A Tiger Doing Jumping Jacks
Odontoglossum constrictum (photo credit: Quimbaya's, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0, via Flickr)
During my recent bout of retail therapy, I bought two new orchids, both previously unfamiliar to me. I wrote about the first one, a tolumnia, last month, and now I’m writing about my second purchase, an Ontobrassia hybrid.
As if 28,000 species of orchids isn’t enough, botanists constantly come up with new hybrids by crossbreeding different species. Sometimes these new species are bred for specific qualities (hardiness, coloring, flower shape, bloom frequency, etc), and sometimes the breeding is more of a science experiment to see if it works and what the result will be. That means more new types of orchids are being created, sold, and cultivated by enthusiasts than ever, and that number increases all the time.
Odontoglossum (photo credit: TopTropicals.com)
Odontobrassia orchids, also known as “butterfly orchids,” have complicated genetics, as they’re a hybrid of odontoglossum and brassia orchids. Odontoglossum orchids are native to Mexico and Central America and grow in forests and on cliffsides. They’re able to withstand lower temperatures than many other orchid species, and like all others, they enjoy humidity.
The one I bought is a cross between odontoglossum bictoniense and Aliceara Dorothy Oka.
Arthurara Sea Snake (photo is a screenshot of images on orchidroots.com)
Aliceara Dorothy Oka is a hybrid of four different orchid genera, an oncidium hybrid and a brassia hybrid. The finer points of cross-breeding and the genetics of various orchids are far beyond me, but this orchid seems like a child with dozens of parents, born thanks to technology and ingenuity. Drawing up its family tree would be quite a project!
The specific name of the plant I got is Odontobrassia Sea Snake “Unforgettable,” also called “Arthurara Sea Snake ‘Unforgettable’” (cultivars sometimes go a little overboard inserting adjectives into the names of plants). Although I will say, the blooms of this plant would probably be unforgettable in person if I can get it to that point.
Screenshot from orchidroots.com of the plant for sale
This is one of those orchids that hardly seems real. The wild combination of colors and petal shapes give it the otherworldly vibe so common to orchids. The flower looks like a tiger, if a tiger’s stripes were purple instead of black. It’s got thin petals that curve upward, as though each bloom is in the midst of doing jumping jacks. When it blooms, perhaps I’ll join it and do the same.
