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Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Who's the Daddy?

Paph. Puck's AppleThis is Paph. Puck's Apple. Its a pretty large flower, and with that name we know it must have appletonianum in the background. Its other parent was Mod Maude. This picture isn't great, but I'm sure you get the general idea.

I've decided to pollinate it but can't choose between two possible pollen donors. Yeah, yeah, the shape isn't perfect, but I'm not concerned about that. It has some interesting genetics to offer.

Paph. gardineriAnyway, I've decided I'd like to use either my seedling of Paph. gardineri, which is the second photo here, or my Paph. venustum var. pardhanii which can be seen in this post. The gardineri can offer two things of interest: (a) possible multifloral tendencies, and (b) an enhancement to make the slight twist of Puck's Apple's petals look "on purpose." The venustum offers (a) possible increase in color contrasts of the flower while maintaining strong color on the petal ends, (b) possible brains patterning on the pouch, which is always cool. I think they both offer general niftiness.

So far I've had one vote for each possible parent. Please give me a tie breaker!! What should I choose? And we need to decide quick, paphs take pollen best when the flowers are pretty fresh.

5 comments:

ImpactRed said...

I like the look of the seedling Paph. gardineri. But I like stripes and dark colors. It would be interesting to see the result.
The second plant Paph. venustum var. pardhanii has similar looks. If you are interested in enhancing the side leaves (they both have a similar side and top leaf) or want to keep the colors lighter than go with the second donor. (Posted by Jlodell - the PlantGeekWannabe)

Anonymous said...

I vote for gardinieri--- I like the dark striping.

Bill said...

I vote for BRAINS!!!!!

swamprad said...

Hi,
I'll vote for the gardineri, I think you'll see some interesting results. Enjoyed reading through your blog and look forward to future entries! Come visit us over at slippertalk.com some time!
--Mark

Anonymous said...

I vote for the Paph. gardineri. I think its character will blend with and enhance Puck's character.