Aesop tells us the story of the race between the tortoise and the hare. The hare was very fast but only ran in fits and starts and never completed the race while the tortoise was much slower and steadier and kept plodding until he eventually won. Although there is no race, the two major branches of novelty phalaenopsis breeding can be compared to the two participants in this race.

Like the hare, red breeding has gone in fits and starts. Until the mid-1990s, almost all red breeding resulted in a few, generally fragrant red flowers. Flower count (per inflorescence) was usually quite low, shape was starry and size was relatively small. The size often remained in the 2-2½-inch range and most new hybrids just produced more of the same. Every time a "spectacular" red flower came along, there was a spurt of breeding with it. Phal. Luedde-violacea, Phal. George Vasquez and Phal. Golden Buddha have each been the cause for such spurts of growth. Each of these plants continues to be used but to a lesser extent. However, in the mid- and late-1990s, there was an unprecedented improvement in red breeding (courtesy almost exclusively of Phal. Brother Purple), and this virtually overnight. Reds achieved a degree of excellence never before reached. While we await the next "star" in the firmament of red breeding, Phal. Brother Purple and its progeny are enjoying their time in the sun.

Yellow phalaenopsis breeding, on the other hand, began in earnest about 40 years ago and, like the tortoise, has progressed on a slow and steady pace. There have been periods that produced progress more rapidly than others and along the way there have been several important stud plants but the progress has generally been slow, steady and ongoing. This article will discuss yellow breeding, focusing on the most important stud plants.

It is hard to examine plant breeding in a "logical" manner for various reasons. The most important is the fact that plant breeding, unlike human breeding, is not necessarily either chronological or linear. In plant breeding, it is common to attempt to reinforce traits by trying to produce homozygous genes through inbreeding or linebreeding. This may be done in many ways, including breeding two plants together with a common parent, breeding a plant back to a species in its background, breeding a plant back to its parent or through sibling crosses.

The first yellow phalaenopsis hybrid registered was Phal. Golden Louis, registered by Lewis Vaughan in 1957. It was a hybrid of Phal. Doris and Phal. mannii. (It was originally thought that there were three white Phalaenopsis species: Phal. amabilis, Phal. aphrodite and Phal. rimestadiana, used to create Phal. Doris. Some taxonomists now consider that all three are at most 2 species, Phal. amabilis and Phal. aphrodite and some people believe that Phal. Doris is simply a "super" Phal. amabilis.)

More yellow hybrids with Phal. mannii followed Phal. Golden Louis since Phal. mannii was one of the first yellow species in common cultivation. The standard for judging Phalaenopsis emphasizes roundness, fullness and flatness. Many people have said semi-jokingly that Phal. mannii was a perfect breeder’s plant: no matter what you bred it to, the result was an improvement. This may be quite true. Although there are over 130 registered first-generation hybrids with Phal. mannii, only two could be considered reasonably well known: Phal. Su-An Cricket (x Phal. Gelblieber) and Phal. Mambo (x Phal. amboinensis). Neither of these two hybrids is round nor full.

Several other species have been used in yellow breeding. The most important have been Phal. fasciata, Phal. amboinensis, Phal. venosa, Phal. lueddemanniana and, to a much lesser extent, Phal. violacea and Phal. gigantea.

Phal. gigantea, in much the same way as Phal. amboinensis, comes in two varieties: red spotting over a cream base color or over a yellow base color. Its influence in yellow breeding is seen almost exclusively in Phal. Liu Tuen-Shen (see below). As for Phal. violacea, the species that was used in breeding was generally the variety from Borneo, now called Phal. bellina, although the RHS still calls it Phal. violacea for registration purposes. As a rule, Phal. violacea has been used in breeding for reds. What influence it has had in yellow breeding is generally as a result of "failed" red breeding.

The story of Phal. fasciata breeding is similar to that of Phal. mannii in that very few of its progeny are well known despite the fact that well over 100 first-generation hybrids have been registered. The best known of these are all primary hybrids: Dtps. Red Elf (x Dor. pulcherrima), Phal. Golden Pride (x Phal. amboinensis) and Phal. Spica (x Phal. lueddemanniana). Dtps. Red Elf was made by Hermann Pigors and registered by Lenette Nurseries. One particular clone ‘Lenette#4’ received an HCC and has been widely distributed. H. P. Norton started a whole new line of red breeding using this (and other) hybrids of Dor. pulcherrima but fertility problems persist and, in the long run, this line of breeding will probably be little more than a flash in the pan. Phal. Golden Pride appeared to have great potential in its day and, its most well known offspring, Phal. Solar Flare (x Phal. Golden Sands), did manage to garner 28(!) awards but, by today’s standards, we see that the flowers are too few and too clustered at the ends of the inflorescences.

Phal. Spica is the most important Phal. fasciata (and Phal. lueddemanniana) hybrid in yellow breeding. Registered by Lee Kuhn (the founder with wife Janet of J & L Orchids) in 1969, it has gone on to produce two of the best known and most important stud plants in novelty breeding, Phal. Barbara Moler and Phal. Golden Buddha. Both of these plants have the two most important traits for hybridizers – they are (or were) readily available and both are very fertile. Most of their offspring are quite fertile as well. The legacy of Phal. Spica will live on in yellow breeding through many of its most important progeny: Phal. Misty Green (Barbara Moler x Bamboo Baby), Phal. Golden Gift (Golden Buddha x Deventeriana), Phal. Fortune Buddha (Golden Buddha x Liu Tuen-Shen) as well as Phal. Baldan’s Kaleidoscope (Hausermann’s Candy x Daryl Lockhart). Because many of the Phal. Golden Buddha hybrids concentrated on red progeny, the legacy of Phal. Spica is even more important in the context of red breeding.

The most famous and the most influential Phal. fasciata hybrid was not registered with Phal. fasciata as the parent. It is Phal. Golden Sands. Roy Fields registered it in 1964 as Phal. Fenton Davis Avant x Phal. lueddemanniana var. ochracea. Despite the official registration, "[t]here seems to be no question that Roy Fields used a Phalaenopsis fasciata and not Phalaenopsis lueddemanniana v. ochracea to breed the cross." Phal. Golden Sands is discussed below.

Phal. lueddemanniana is one of the most versatile of the phalaenopsis species with several very (optically) different varieties. Depending on whether you are a lumper or a splitter, you may consider each variety to be a separate species. However, with the exception of Phal. Spica (see supra), most of the well-known hybrids of Phal. lueddemanniana, with the exception of Phal. Tyler Carlson (x Phal. Gladys Read), all produced spotted or red flowers: Phal. Paifang’s Queen (x Phal. Mount Kaala), Phal. Coral Isles (x Phal. Princess Kaiulani), Phal. Cabrillo Star (x Phal. Ramona), Phal. Zadian (x Phal. Zada) and Phal. Luedde-violacea (x Phal. violacea). The reason for this is quite simple. As a rule, because of its color, Phal. lueddemanniana var. pulchra was the commonly used variety in breeding. When bred to a red flower, more red flowers were produced and, when bred to a flower with less coloring, the "solid" red of the Phal. lueddemanniana var. pulchra broke down into its component spots and bars.

Phal. amboinensis is possibly the most important species in yellow breeding to date. However, the Phal. amboinensis that was originally discovered was cream with brown barring. It was used in hybridizing but it wasn’t until the 1950s that the yellow form of the species was discovered and in the ’60s that it was widely cultivated. Then, Phal. amboinensis really came into its own. It was bred to almost anything and produced hundreds of well-known and well-used progeny. A list of awarded progeny could take pages but some of the more important would definitely include Phal. Sarah Frances Pridgen (x Phal. Barbara Moler), Phal. Summer Wine (x Phal. Bettylee Burke), Phal. Ambo Buddha (x Phal. Brother Buddha), Phal. Paula Hausermann (x Phal. Kenneth Stromsland), Phal. Sara Lee (x Phal. Princess Lorraine), Phal. Brother Horace (x Phal. Brother Glamour), Phal. Penang (x Phal. Rosy Charm), Phal. Malibu Imp (x Phal. Luedde-violacea) and Phal. Brother Elizabeth (x Phal. Brother Cucumber).

With the one notable exception of Phal. Bamboo Baby, almost all of the best-known hybrids of Phal. amboinensis are its primary hybrids: Phal. Corona (x Phal. cornu-cervi), Phal. Deventeriana (x Phal. amabilis), Phal. Golden Pride (x Phal. fasciata), Phal. David Lim (x Phal. gigantea), Phal. Ambomanniana (x Phal. lueddemanniana), Phal. Mambo (x Phal. mannii), Phal. Ambotrana (x Phal. sumatrana), Phal. Ambonosa (x Phal. venosa), Phal. Ambotris (x Phal. equestris) and Phal. Princess Kaiulani (x Phal. violacea). However, despite their notoriety, very few of these primary hybrids, with the exception of Phal. Deventeriana and Phal. Princess Kaiulani, have to date produced anything of long-term note.

Phal. venosa (originally called Phal. psilantha and awarded as such) was only discovered about 20 years ago. It sparked a great deal of interest as many people considered it to be a worthy successor and possibly an even better and more important species for breeding yellows than Phal. amboinensis. The first hybrids made with Phal. venosa were only registered in 1984, a little over 15 years ago. Several hybridizers remade hybrids that had been made with Phal. amboinensis. Others struck out in new and different directions. However, many people now freely admit that breeding with Phal. venosa can be difficult and that, while Phal. venosa hybrids can be very attractive, breeding with some of them is nearly impossible. For example, Phal. Zuma Aussie Delight (Sweet Memory x venosa) has been meristemmed and is in hundreds, if not thousands, of collections. Despite this fact, there are only a couple of registered hybrids and thousands of failed attempts.

Phal. venosa was used in making several primary hybrids including Phal. Kuntrarti Rarashati (x Phal. equestris). To date, Phal. Kuntrarti Rarashati has produced some of the nicest and most interesting multiflora hybrids around – Phal. Taida Pixie (x Phal. Carmela’s Pixie), Dtps. Pico Lady Ruby (x Dor. pulcherrima) with one Award of Quality and several flower quality awards, Phal. Jori Moore (x Phal. Zuma’s Pixie) which also has both an Award of Quality and awarded progeny as well as Phal. Bedford Baby (x Phal. amboinensis), with one flower quality award to date. Phal. Penang Girl (x Phal. violacea), registered in 1984 has been used approximately 30 times to date in making registered hybrids. It is both colorful and fertile, a wonderful combination. A delightful fragrance is an added bonus. Phal. Ambonosa (x Phal. amboinensis) has been used extensively in breeding. There are several awarded clones with flowers ranging from about 4.5 to 5.5 cm natural spread and the flowers can be quite plentiful because of the tendency to rebloom on old inflorescences. It is the parent of about 30 registered hybrids to date, having been used since 1989. Most of the hybrids of Phal. Ambonosa to date are hardly known but Phal. Minho Queen (x Phal. Paifang’s Auckland) has one award and Phal. Brother Torro (x Phal. Peach Boy) has several.

There is a group of Phal. venosa hybrids that can best be lumped as near-primary hybrids. There are many of these including Phal. John Ewing (x Phal. George Vasquez) and Phal. Venimp (x Phal. Malibu Imp) in the United States and Phal. Coral Nosa (x Phal. Coral Isles) in Taiwan. The flowers in this group all tend to be quite dark, star-shaped and few in number. However, they are all fragrant and relatively new to the hybridizing world. Of these, Phal. Coral Nosa has probably been the plant that has been used the most in hybridizing. It is the parent of Phal. Black Eagle (x Phal. George Vasquez), Phal. Chiayi Golden Moon (x Phal. Maritea), Phal. Ta Lin Kaiulani (x Phal. Princess Kaiulani) and Phal. Black Beauty (x Phal. gigantea), all of which have played important roles in phalaenopsis breeding in Taiwan.

Phal. Golden Bells (x Phal. Golden Sands), a hybrid registered in 1988 by H. P. Norton, is one of the most prolific Phal. venosa hybrids. It has received three awards to date and is the parent of almost 90 registered hybrids to date. In spite of the relative youth of this grex, it has already begun to prove its worth with several of its first-generation hybrids such as Phal. Orchidview Bellringer (x Phal. Deventeriana), Phal. Melodious Bells (x Phal. Golden Buddha) and Phal. Golden Circles (x Phal. Misty Green) but, yet again, it is much too early to examine the complete impact of this grex.

Some of the most important (commercially, anyway) hybrids of Phal. venosa are crosses with large whites. This type of breeding was done with Phal. amboinensis and the tradition continues with Phal. venosa. As a rule, this produces good flower count with yellow flowers that are reasonably large.