Pleione 2015

[hud357]

Hi Hud,
   The classic example of what you refer to is P. x confusa… so called because it was passed round as P. forrestii for half a century! A problem which continues into the second generation with some people not sure if their P. x confusa is actually a P. Shantung ‘Ducat’!!
   Apart from that… you also seem to be referring to ‘hybrid swarms’. A more common problem with Dactylorhiza, where it can be very hard to draw lines between the various species. Although half a dozen natural hybrids of Pleione are recognized, I’ve not heard them being described as ‘hybrid swarms’.

Tim DH

x confusa does sound partly like what I had in mind. It would probably only be identified as a hybrid by someone growing on a huge batch of (x self) seedlings and noticing that one or two look a bit 'suspicious'.

Another problem might be that of 'hybrid vigour' where a natural hybrid soon outstrips the native species to become dominant. Something I wouldn't be surprised to find in a Dactylorhiza population. An even bigger 'problem' might be where the successful seedling tends to favour one of the parents over the other making visual identification near impossible.

My main question was more about some kind of 'fast track' evolution. One where the offspring of a particular cross takes to a new niche and all of its offspring tend toward the dominant traits of the successful cross. Over a relatively short time span (relative to waiting for Finch beaks to change) would this not constitute a new species? One that would only be 'exposed' as a hybrid by somebody 'selfing' the plant and then growing to maturity thousands of seedlings looking for the one or two offspring that might expose the original cross. Something unlikely to happen.

[LarsB]

Finally, the first automn flowering has opened: xLagenaria. Like everything else in my garden, it has been much later than usual.

Kind regards

Lars

[Tim Harberd]

Hi Hud,
   Don’t forget that the concept of ’species’ is an artificial construction, created to help us better understand the natural world. In some situations the idea of species works quite well, but in some situations it doesn’t. One area it doesn’t work too well is the whole grey area of forming ‘new species’!
   Despite Darwin’s seminal book being about how new species arise, I’m not aware of any new species having arisen since its publication!!!

Tim DH

[vigor]

P. maculata and P. praecox without spot on its lip（the green pseudobulbs are also different from the normal ones）

[erf]

Hi all
Finnaly Pleione Semeru flowered. A very large flower with a fantastic scent.
Erling

[Maren]

Congratulations, Erling, it's so nice to see this one in flower.
Yours must be the only one, well, at least on this forum. 

How would you say does this compare with P. praecox? is it bigger, better, more scented?

[Maggi Young]

P.' Semeru'  is, I learn from a previous Butterfield list,  a hybrid of P. 'Lassen Peak' x P. praecox   with  "large dark mauve pink flowers with yellow and brown inside the lip. Flowers are fragrant."

I also discover that    P. 'Lassen Peak'  is itself a  P. praecox x P. x lagenaria hybrid.
I hope  readers will be interested in the parentage of these plants.

[erf]

Hello

Pleione Semeru flower start out more or less looking like Pleione praecox, but very fast goes darker and much more intense. It sure is a very large flower with a fantastic scent. Here is a pot with flowers that have been open for a week or so, together with a flower that have only been opend for a day. Quite a big difference.

Regards Erling

[Steve Garvie]

Pleione saxicola -from a couple of weeks ago.



Pleione maculata -originally of Chinese provenance.

[Maren]

Hi Steve,

lovely pleiones, great pictures.

My P. maculata are beginning to open. Lots of flowers this year, often two per bulb but, disappointingly, the flowers are hidden beneath a forest of greenish/brownish leaves and I don't have the heart to cut them off. Sigh.

[Steve Garvie]

Pleione praecox of Chinese provenance.

[ashley]

Pleione Confirmation      ... presumably.  It came to me as P. praecox, and is unlikely to be X lagenaria.

[pleione07]

My autumn Pleione

Pleione Liz Shan




Pleione x lagenaria







Pleione Confirmation

[ashley]

Beautiful plants Julien
Does Liz Shan darken much as the flower ages?

[Maren]

Just had a message from a friend in Germany telling me that my picture of Pleione Whakari 'Dusky Sunbird', which I posted here to illustrate Ian Butterfield's new hybrids, was being used by someone selling pleiones on ebay.de. Not only did this person use the picture with the wrong plant, he also managed to misspell the name.

The culprit trades under pleiones-for-you on ebay.de, and he lives in York.  His website says he sells worldwide. Hmm, interesting - I doubt that he provides CITES and Phytosanitary certificates, as is required by law for sales of orchids outside the EU.

When looking at ebay for other pleione sales, I discovered that someone else had stolen my picture of Pleione Tongariro from the pricelist on my website. It was unmistakable: the pleiones were in a large basket on my lawn.

Sigh.