CONTINUED FROM PART I

THE MOST IMPORTANT STUD PLANTS (in alphabetical order)

What makes a stud plant important? This author believes that an important stud plant is one that has a lasting influence on the Phalaenopsis that follow it. While Phal. Golden Louis is important as the first yellow hybrid, it is not an important stud plant. In novelty phalaenopsis breeding, which is only about 45 years old, only a handful of "important" stud plants have advanced yellow breeding in a meaningful and lasting manner.

With regard to stud plants, there is an old-age question: Is this plant a great stud plant because it has produced so many high-quality progeny? OR Has this plant produced so many high-quality progeny because so many people are using it in hybridizing? In novelty breeding, there is of course one more consideration: Is this plant a great stud plant because it produces lots of seed? Answers to these questions, which would be far from definitive, would require an additional article.

There have been many false hopes along the way. There have also been many high-quality yellows produced. Many people believed that high-quality plants would make high-quality parents but that has not always proven to be the case. Two well-known examples spring to mind. Phal. Sierra Gold ‘Suzanne’ (Deventeriana x Mambo) and Phal. Golden Emperor ‘Sweet’ (Snow Daffodil x Mambo) have both received First Class Certificates (FCC) from the AOS in the early 1980s. They have both been meristemmed and both have been very widely distributed. However, both have proven to be duds in the stud house. There are about a handful of registered hybrids from each of them. Many people believe that these plants are triploids (or, at least, some type of aneuploid) and breeding with them has been difficult at best. What progeny there have been have not lived up to their potential.

In discussing stud plants, we must bear in mind that no plant produces progeny in a void. Other plants contribute their DNA to the offspring as well. The plants selected here were selected because of their entire breeding record. There may be others that are omitted here. Any list is to some extent arbitrary but occasionally a plant is omitted because it is too recent to have a long enough breeding history to be included at this time.

Phal. Bamboo Baby is one of the best known progeny of Phal. amboinensis (x Phal. Honey Dew). The hybrid was registered in 1971 by Jones & Scully and was re-made at least once. On March 3, 1977, an 89-point Award of Merit was given to the ‘Coqui’ clone with 3 flowers and 8 buds on a 3-branched inflorescence. This award was upgraded to a 91-point FCC on February 17, 1984 with 6 flowers on 1 inflorescence with a natural spread of 9.0 cm. With 18 other awards and the FCC, this hybrid quickly gained notoriety and was highly sought after. Stem propagations were available at prices only the serious could afford. Ramon Melendez, owner, operator and hybridizer at Coqui Nursersies, owned the ‘Coqui’, FCC/AOS clone but believes that the ‘Monchito’, AM/AOS (84 pts.) clone, which he also owned, was superior. Unfortunately, Hurricane Hugo caused a great deal of destruction and loss of plants at Coqui Nurseries. Several people have used Phal. Bamboo Baby as a parent and it has produced several important hybrids, many of them grexes with multiple award-winning cultivars, among the approximately 70 registered hybrids: Phal. Misty Green (x Phal. Barbara Moler), Phal. Golden Omni (x Phal. Daryl Lockhart), Phal. Clash of Titans (x Phal. Deventeriana), Phal. Misty Baby (x Phal. Misty Green), Phal. Bamboo Nancy (x Phal. Nancy Lockhart) and Phal. Stella D’Oro (x Phal. amboinensis).

Maybe, it’s too soon to tell or maybe many of the other progeny never received wide enough distribution but, as it stands, it appears that Phal. Misty Green is the only Phal. Bamboo Baby hybrid that will live on as an important stud plant. Is it because the grex Phal. Misty Green produced so many great offspring? There are well over 20 AOS awards and many of the best have not been shown. Is it because the other hybrids did not receive wide enough distribution? Both Phal. Clash of Titans and Phal. Misty Baby appear to have great pedigrees, yet their breeding history is minimal.

In general, many of the awarded clones of Phal. Misty Green tend to resemble their Phal. Bamboo Baby parent in color and size, ranging in size up to a high of 9.6 cm. The best Phal. Misty Green that I ever saw was the result of a selfing of the ‘Arlington’, AM/AOS clone, owned by Klehm Growers. The flowers were large, flat and solid yellow-green with almost no red marking. The plant was never shown.

Two of the most prominent offspring of Phal. Misty Green are Phal. Goldberry (x Phal. Golden Amboin) and Phal. Golden Peoker (x Phal. Liu Tuen-Shen). Brother Orchid Nursery registered Phal. Golden Peoker in 1983, arguably the most important grex in current novelty phalaenopsis hybridizing. The hybrid produced little seed and the plant selected to be mericloned was not golden (as the name implies) but rather white with fuchsia spots. As for Phal. Goldberry, Herb Hager made the original hybrid in 1990. The original cross produced several awards and a sibling cross made recently by Carmela Orchids produced exceptional results as well.

Phal. Deventeriana was originally registered in 1927 by van Deventer as a hybrid between the species Phal. amabilis and Phal. amboinensis. No further breeding was done with this hybrid until the mid-’70s. We have to bear in mind that the Phal. amboinensis that was originally discovered (and the one used in this hybrid when it was originally made) was a cream-colored flower with brown barring. It wasn’t until the ’60s that the yellow form of Phal. amboinensis was discovered. So the original hybrid of Phal. Deventeriana was probably a creamy or pale yellow, star-shaped flower with poor form.

When the hybrid was remade in the ’70s, much better forms of both species parents were available and were used. The variety of Phal. amboinensis used was one that had quite a bit of yellow. The results were (presumably) much better than the original hybrid. At least two of the resulting clones were outstanding, possibly natural polyploids. The ‘Treva’, HCC-AM/AOS clone which is better known and more widely distributed and the ‘Goldie’, HCC/AOS clone. Both flowers look remarkably similar, although the ‘Treva’ clone is marginally larger. Both are cream-colored flowers overlaid with yellow apically and were spectacular in terms of shape and color for their day. In fact, the award description for the ‘Goldie’ clone states that the "strongest feature is the nice yellow color; major deficiency is the width of the sepals and petals". (A third clone ‘Sky Island’ received a 78-point HCC on July 20, 1996 from another remake of the hybrid, this time by Bill Mitchell.)

Much of the early breeding with Phal. Deventeriana were crosses using highly colored (solid or heavily marked red) flowers as the other parent. When the early Phal. Deventeriana hybrids (such as Phal. Orchid World and Phal. Sweet Memory) began to bloom, people were amazed and, as soon as Phal. Deventeriana ‘Treva’ was meristemmed, hybridizers "beat the door down" to get themselves a piece of this superior stud plant at a then-very high price. Because these hybrids were so attractive, almost all Phal. Deventeriana breeding continued using colorful plants as the other parent. Virtually no straight yellow breeding was done with Phal. Deventeriana for quite awhile. The results of the breeding to colorful stud plants were generally attractive but often not very fertile. For example, Phal. Sweet Memory and Phal. Orchid World are two hybrids that were made and remade on several occasions. Many clones were meristemmed and are available from many sources but their hybrids are few and generally not worth mentioning. There is the odd exception such as Phal. Rare Vintage (Sweet Memory x George Vasquez), a hybrid that produced little seed but lots of awards. An exception to much of the foregoing, Phal. Sweet Revenge (x Sara Lee) is both colorful and fertile. Several of its hybrids are very attractive and have received AOS recognition.

Phal. Golden Gift (x Phal. Golden Buddha) is a very important offspring of Phal. Deventeriana. The flowers are colorful, medium in size and were produced in reasonable quantities but two other factors make this a very important grex. The first is that this grex was remade on several occasions because the other parent was readily available and so this hybrid received very wide distribution. But, and this may be the most important factor, Phal. Golden Gift produced lots of seed whenever it was bred. When Phal. Golden Gift was bred back to its Phal. Deventeriana parent, it produced Phal. Arizona Amber, a hybrid that not only produced an Award of Quality but also several AOS awards to individual cultivars.

By 1980, for the first time, hybridizers began breeding Phal. Deventeriana to other "large" yellows. Several interesting yellow hybrids, such as Phal. Barbara’s Jewel (x Phal. Barbara Moler), Phal. Lemorange (x Phal. Liu Tuen-Shen), Phal. Orchidview Sunsplash (x Phal. Pimlico Sunshine), Phal. Yellow Fantasy (x Phal. Misty Moon), Phal. King’s Ransom (x Phal. Wappaoola) and Phal. Brother Lawrence, AQ/AOS (x Phal. Taipei Gold), were produced. Some of these hybrids produced awards and many are being used in further breeding.

By 1986, some people had begun to register the second-generation hybrids of Phal. Deventeriana and, in 1991, the third-generation began. It is our opinion that the true value of a plant over the long term is measured by the continuing quality of its second- and third-generation progeny. Although this line of yellow breeding is relatively new, there are several hybrids that are already making their mark: Phal. Brother Elizabeth (Brother Cucumber x amboinensis), one HCC, Phal. Brother Golden Potential (Brother Paradise x Taipei Gold), one HCC, Phal. Brother Passat (Brother Knight x Taipei Gold), an Award of Quality and several individual awards, Dtps. Sogo Manager (Phal. Brother Lawrence x Autumn Sun), an Award of Quality and several individual awards, Phal. Taida Lawrence (Brother Lawrence x Goldberry) an Award of Quality and many individual awards, Phal. Fireberry (Goldberry x Orange Blaze), 3 HCCs and, possibly most important, Dtps.Autumn Sun (Phal. Prospector’s Dream x Autumn Leaves), parent of 3 Awards of Quality in its first few hybrids.

Phal. Golden Sands received sixteen AOS awards (1 FCC, 8 AMs, 6 HCCs and 1 CCM) and was probably the first yellow phalaenopsis "superstar". The FCC given to the ‘Canary’ clone was the first to a yellow phalaenopsis and caused a sensation. The flowers were flat, full and very large – about 3½" – with the petals that were about 1½" by 1½". For several decades, Phal. Golden Sands remained an essential plant in the collection of every serious Phalaenopsis hybridizer although "crosses tried with Phalaenopsis Golden Sands ‘Canary’ for several years produced no viable seed. …[S]everal Florida breeders (including Roy Fields, the breeder) [believed] that Phalaenopsis Golden Sands ‘Canary’ was sterile." After numerous frustrating attempts and approximately 13 years, it did produce seed. (N.B. Numerous plants of Phal. Golden Sands ‘Canary’, FCC/AOS are apparently virused. This seems to have come from the cloning of a virused plant. There is no evidence to suggest that the original plant was virused.)

There are about 150 first-generation hybrids with Phal. Golden Sands as a parent. Since 1969, with the exception of 2 years, Phal. Golden Sands hybrids have been registered every year. At present, the number of hybrids made with Phal. Golden Sands is on the decline. Of all the first-generation hybrids, the most noteworthy are the hybrids made with species. Examples of this are Phal. Butterball (x Phal. stuartiana), Phal. Golden Amboin (x Phal. amboinensis), Phal. Golden Bells (x Phal. venosa, see supra), Phal. Goldiana (x Phal. lueddemanniana) and Phal. Liu Tuen-Shen (x Phal. gigantea). Possibly because of the length of time that it (and its offspring) have been available, it is the most important plant in yellow breeding in the author’s opinion.

Phal. Golden Amboin, registered by Jones & Scully in 1976, appears to be the chosen substitute of Phal. Golden Sands in much of the phalaenopsis breeding in North America. Is that because it is easier to breed with (breeds as a younger plant and produces more seed) or more readily available (Several clones have been meristemmed.) or is there another reason? Who knows? However, Phal. Golden Amboin has approximately 110 registered hybrids. In 1984, the first Phal. Golden Amboin hybrid was registered and its use appears to be steady. Its progeny include many well-known hybrids including Dtps. Garry Solmonson (x Dtps. Gorgeous Gold), Phal. Brother Angel (x Phal. Golden Buddha), Phal. Brother Stage (x Phal. Taipei Gold), Phal. Flor Del Valle (x Phal. stuartiana), Phal. Goldberry (x Phal. Misty Green), Phal. Jungle Warrior (x Phal. gigantea), Phal. Mystik Golden Leopard (x Phal. philippinense), Phal. Meller Gold (x Phal. Barbara Moler), Phal. Prospector’s Dream (x Phal. Desert Dusk) and Phal. Salu Spot (x Phal. Paifang’s Auckland). Several of these hybrids are very important in yellow breeding.

Phal. Liu Tuen-Shen was registered by Irene Dobkin in 1979, and is arguably as important, if not more important, than Phal. Golden Amboin, although its first-generation offspring remain mostly unknown and unseen in North America. The second-, third- and fourth-generation hybrids have started the migration overseas and are proving to be very popular. It is said that the original cross of Phal. Liu Tuen-Shen produced very little seed and less than 20 plants. (The other parent, Phal. gigantea, is renowned for difficulty in breeding.) Four clones received 5 AOS awards and have been used in breeding in North America. These and other clones have been used extensively in Taiwan.

There are about 75 registered hybrids with Phal. Liu Tuen-Shen. Most of these hybrids are Taiwanese and, based upon hybridizing to date, several of these are proving to be exceptionally dominant and truly important as they breed onward. Three of the most important first-generation offspring are Phal. Fortune Buddha (x Phal. Golden Buddha), Phal. Golden Peoker (x Phal. Misty Green) and Phal. Paifang’s Auckland (x Phal. Paifang’s Queen). These three hybrids are taking up the torch from their parent, Phal. Liu Tuen-Shen, and have been used extensively in hybridizing. They are behind a large portion of the novelty breeding in Taiwan at present. Through careful breeding and vigorous selection, the Taiwanese are producing novelties of exceptional size, very intense color and good flower count. (At the 1999 WOC in Vancouver, Taiwan Sugar Company exhibited a plant of an un-named grex Phal. [Chimei Buddha x Paifang’s Auckland]. In my opinion, it was the most interesting Phalaenopsis exhibited there. A representative of the Taiwan Sugar Company [the plant’s owner] stated that they would mericlone the plant but only for internal purposes.)

While Phal. Golden Peoker hybrids (both the regular and the harlequin varieties) have reached us in large and ever-increasing quantities, the hybrids of Phal. Fortune Buddha and Phal. Paifang’s Auckland are almost non-existent over here. Phal. Brother Pirate King (Fortune Buddha x Brother Purple), Phal. Brother Gem (Fortune Buddha x Brother Canary), Phal. Brother Kaiser (Fortune Buddha x Golden Peoker) and Dtps. Ho’s Happy Auckland (Phal. Paifang’s Auckland x Happy Valentine) are a few notable exceptions that prove the rule. Seedlings of Phal. Fortune Buddha as well as several clones have made it over from Taiwan but no clones and few, if any, seedlings of Phal. Paifang’s Auckland. At least one clone each of Phal. Auckland Buddha (Fortune Buddha x Paifang’s Auckland) and Phal. Chimei Buddha (Auckland Buddha x Paifang’s Auckland) have been available at different times. This is truly a shame considering the versatility of Phal. Paifang’s Auckland. It can produce solid reds such as Phal. Sogo Red Bird (x Princess Kaiulani) as well as incredible spotted patterns such as Phal. Brother Copperwing (x Carmela’s Spots) in addition to the large white flower with the pink blush centrally that we all know and love, Dtps. Ho’s Happy Auckland ‘Song’, AM/AOS (x Happy Valentine).

The most readily available offspring of Phal. Paifang’s Auckland ever available here in quantity have been Phal. Golden Sun (2^nd generation) and Phal. Ching Her Buddha (3^rd generation) and their progeny. Each of these grexes have produced wonderful results and their progeny are often exceptional. Recently, I was lucky enough to find plants of Phal. Sogo Thomas, a hybrid which combined all three of these Phal. Liu Tuen-Shen hybrids. Its pedigree is below:

Click on pedigree to enlarge.

Several of the plants of this grex were exceptional and will surely end up on show tables in the future.

Through hybrids such as Phal. Auckland Buddha, Phal. Brother Buddha, Phal. Super Stupid, Phal. Brother Purple, Phal. Ching Her Buddha and Phal. Salu Spot, the legacy of Phal. Liu Tuen-Shen is now assured.

Phal. Taipei Gold was one of the first Phal. venosa hybrids (x Phal. Gladys Read), registered in 1984 by Chen Char Sun. There are 11 awards to different clones of Phal. Taipei Gold, most of them from the first time that this hybrid was made. The flowers of the grex varied from a clear yellow to yellow with brown ticking centrally. All seem to have had a good-sized halo of white around the column. But these plants proved difficult, if not impossible, to breed with. Many people thought that they might be triploids, the result of crossing a diploid Phal. venosa with a tetraploid Phal. Gladys Read. In Taiwan, Gold Star Orchids remade the cross several years later using a known diploid Phal. Gladys Read and the results were very different.

The ‘Gold Star’ clone was selected. The plant was originally stem-propagated and used extensively in breeding in Taiwan. (It has since been meristemmed in industrial quantities and, of course, with the meristemming process in large quantities came at least one sport.) Brother Orchid Nursery originally made several crosses using this plant. To date, Phal. Taipei Gold is the parent of well over 100 hybrids to date, most of them made in Taiwan: first-generation hybrids include Phal. Brother Lawrence, AQ/AOS (x Phal. Deventeriana), Phal. Brother Passat, AQ/AOS (x Phal. Brother Knight), Phal. Brother Victory (x Phal. Brother Carol), Phal. Bedford Glow (x Phal. Brother Elizabeth) and Phal. Sogo Lisa (x Phal. Salu Spot). Almost all of these hybrids produce flat, (generally clear) yellow to yellow-green flowers, relatively large and reasonably floriferous. For those interested in breeding, Phal. Taipei Gold ‘Gold Star’ produces a great deal of seed, both as a pollen and as a pod parent.

Phal. Brother Lawrence received wide distribution on this side of the Pacific. Because of this and the overall high quality of the grex, it has "taken off" as a parent. Because of its availability, its floriferousness and the size and color of its flowers and with over 50 registered hybrids to date, including both Dtps. Sogo Manager, AQ/AOS (Phal. Brother Lawrence x Autumn Sun) and Phal. Taida Lawrence, AQ/AOS (Brother Lawrence x Goldberry), this is obviously a parent to watch for.

Phal. Taida Lawrence (Goldberry x Brother Lawrence), registered by Taida Nurseries in 1997 and made by Carmela Orchids at virtually the same time, is one of the most highly awarded recent yellow phalaenopsis grexes. Incorporating each of the great stud plants mentioned in this article, and with approximately 20 awards and many equally good but unshown cultivars, it is almost certain that it will appear on a future list of great stud plants and its progeny will certainly garner many awards.

The Taiwanese were so impressed with the quality of the offspring of Phal. Taipei Gold ‘Gold Star’ that several hybridizers have made linebred and/or inbred hybrids. The first to do this was Yung-Yu Lin of Brother Orchid Nursery. He crossed Phal. Taipei Gold hybrids that he had made with each other, resulting in hybrids such as Phal. Brother Golden Wave (Brother Passat x Brother Victory), Phal. Brother Oxford (Brother Passat x Brother Stage) and Phal. Brother New Player (Brother Gold Miss x Brother Victory). Chiang-Kuei Feng of Sogo Nurseries created Phal. Sogo Lake by breeding Phal. Sogo Lisa (Taipei Gold x Salu Spot) back to its parent, Phal. Taipei Gold, to produce Phal. Sogo Festival and also bred Dtps. Sogo Manager back to its parent Phal. Brother Lawrence to produce Dtps. Sogo Pride. I-Hsin Nurseries made a cross similar to Phal. Sogo Lake, breeding Phal. Brother Nugget (Taipei Gold x Brother Imp) back to its parent, Phal. Taipei Gold, to create Phal. I-Hsin Sunflower. An unknown hybridizer created Phal. Kahurangi by crossing Phal. Brother Passat and Phal. Brother Lawrence. The author made 3 linebred/inbred hybrids with Phal. Taida Lawrence: to Phal. Brother Passat to produce Phal. Bedford Passence; back to its parent, Phal. Brother Lawrence, to produce Phal. Bedford Laurent; and back to its grandparent, Phal. Taipei Gold, to produce Phal. Bedford Goldence. All of these inbred/linebred grexes produced flat, (generally) clear yellow flowers with a white halo centrally. There are many other similar inbred/linebred grexes that have been made in Taiwan and that have not been available here.

While Phal. Taipei Gold has proven to be a truly "golden" parent, its true worth as a stud plant will take years to determine. In addition to its yellow offspring, Phal. Brother Sara Gold (x Phal. Sara Lee ‘Eye Dee’) has proven to be a remarkable cross, producing art shades and sunsets as well as a distinct yellow form. Similar crosses such as Phal. Brother Pepride (Brother Passat x Sara Lee) and Phal. Brother Peterstar (Brother Stage x Sara Lee) have produced very similar results. These crosses are similar to Phal. Sweet Revenge AQ/AOS (Deventeriana x Sara Lee) in shape and colour but generally appear to be more floriferous on shorter inflorescences.

Despite the fact that it is the most recent plant on this list, Phal. Taipei Gold has come on fast and furious. Because of mericloning in large numbers, the plant has been readily available at very reasonable prices. It is vigorous and passes on its vigor to its offspring. Surely, we have seen only the tip of the iceberg of its potential.

CONCLUSION

We are lucky to be living and growing orchids in the 21^st century. Orchids are readily available at reasonable prices. When we see a beautiful flower, we realize that we have many people to thank: obviously the hybridizer, but also those that went before who provided him with the genetic material to work with.

In forty-five years of yellow phalaenopsis breeding, we have come a long way. When we look at the yellow Phalaenopsis hybrids available today, we see good flower count, great size and intense color as well as the overall high quality of many of these hybrids. Considering the high quality available now, it is thrilling to consider the future when even better plants will be available.

However, we are now at a crossroads in the orchid world, especially with regard to phalaenopsis. With plants being mericloned in ever-increasing numbers and being readily available at very reasonable prices, will the next great stud plant be a truly great plant or will it be one that is simply very fertile and readily available?