Cyp macranthos has enormous color variation depending upon where it is found - dark, almost black to dark magentas, purples, pinks, yellow, cream, white, and combinations of yellow and magenta. This plant is from seed collected at Irkutsk, Siberia. It is the first of the six seedlings I have to bloom - the stem looks complex in the photo since another seedling is directly behind the blooming one. This is a small plant, perhaps 8 inches in height, similar to Cyp smithii that I have previously posted. In looking at the hybrids posted, you will note that several are crosses of C macranthos and American species - the breeders are trying to get this color in large, robust plants.

Several of my Asian species are blooming now.
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y100/fundulopanchax/Cypripedium/CmacranthosIrkutsk.jpg

Ron Burch

That is nice, I love the colour (or color for the Americans)

Yes, gorgeous rich colour! :D

WOWZERS!

I love the colors and the shape of the pouch.

That is awsome Ron!!!

thats a very rich color i want it to grow in my backyard!

For those who may wonder what a patch of dark macranthos might look like in their garden, this link is from a discussion group - one-half way down is a photo of several dark macranthos in a garden (with an alba mixed in for good measure). I have young seedlings from this clump - probably about three more years to bloom. Note that the substrate is gravel - these guys do not tolerate much in the way of organics in their mix (their roots rot - they are similar to lithotrophic Paps in their needs - whereas our American species would be dead in two weeks in this media -

http://www.srgc.org.uk/discus/messages/283/11821.html?1115850907

Ron Burch

Neat thread Ron, thanks.
Some good size Jack in the Pulpits in there also.

wow that color really stands out :clap2:

Too bad that vibrant color isn't transferred to its hybrids very well. Some ventricosum forms approach that intensity, but nothing seems to match a beautiful pure macranthos for color. Outstanding! :WOW:

Yes, the hybrids are extremely variable with few specimens having good color - we "only" have to perfect meristeming techniques to be able to propagate the good ones in large numbers to enable stopping production of poor ones!

Ron

Very pretty flower and big with a small (low) plant in your picture. Is it as low as it looks? To me it looks like 20-30cm (2/3-1 foot).

Part of the problem with colour of hybrids might be the ingoing Cyp mac, since all hybrids with the same parents have the same name regardless of the parents. I sometimes have a feeling that breeding has been mixed up with making in the sence that one takes what one has and try to make somethinh that noone has done before even if it is not good parent behind. Only lately the parents have been chosen with extra care maybe due to better availibility.
This is not to insult any one and we see now that breeding more and more comon. A withe Cyp. mac has most likely differnt influence in a hybrid than a dark purple. This is not always choing in the name since there a no more name on the hybrid like Gisela "Hillside" or what ever. It is different from a Gisela from Hillside since it may come from someone else and is just retailed and next year different parents are used with a very different result.

The lack of mersistem is obvius and almost a hinder now even though it also creat a bigger genepool to choose from :)

Or is the problem bigger than that, that not even dark Cyp mac. carries the colour to their offspring?

Kind regards and a big hurray for all breaders of Cyp that are making nicer and easier growing plants for us that love them, but might not always be loved back :(

Joakim

Hi, Joakim,

You make several good comments. First about the plant - yes it is a very small plant, blooming its first year. They do get larger but it is always rather small compared to species such as reginae or kentukiense, more like Gisela, but with a much larger flower than Gisela. Many of the macranthos, tibeticum, franchetti, smithii group have very large flowers compared to the size of the plant. Some of the smithii and tibeticum I have seen have very small plants with flowers about as large as the plant itself. I have seen photos of tall macranthos but all of them growing in Europe - perhaps their conditions are more condusive to that or the genetics support it.

As for the hybrids being variable, certainly the parent plant used is an important attribute, especially in species such as macranthos, which shows enormous natural variability. However, when one looks at the offspring from a single cross, in many cases it is true that among 100 offspring from a single pod, the flowers may be purple to white, with few looking similar. Some hybrids are "worse" than others in this phenomenon, which makes development of meristem techniques so important. A hybrid which carries this to an extreme is Michael. The photos from the breeder show a magnificient, colorful flower. However, all of the actual specimens I have seen are rather disappointing and some are actually quite hideous! This is unfortunate since Michael is a very hardy hybrid. Indeed, many hybrids look different each year when they flower! Presumably this is due to the environmental conditions when the bud was forming in the fall of the previous year or differentiating during the current spring. Ulla Silkens is an extreme example of this. Anthony Darby once posted photos of the same plant blooming for three consecutive years - the flower varied enormously in color pattern. I have a Gisela which is always lovely, but some years has an intense yellow background where it is usually white (which is the common color for the background in this plant). The yellow makes a lovely plant so outstanding that when people pass by it from more than 100 feet away, they always come closer for a look.

With the Irkustk macranthos, William Steele has done a nice job of selecting intensely-colored initial parents and breeding very carefully. Those I have seen in person and in photos always look very similar. Steele is working to fix other colors in macranthos as well.

Ron Burch

Hi Ron
Thanks for this information.
I was also thinking on that hybrids made from the same place might differ from year to year not only the individual plant, but the also the other plants that come from the breeder. Most plants are sold before they flower for the first time, I think, so next time one buy a hybrid from the same breeder it might be different due to sligtly different parents and the variations that all syblings have.

It is nice that people now are trying to stable the colors of different Cyp. mac
This is the real breeding in my mind. Set a goal and go for it :)
This is why I mean we are living in intersting times and some, like You, are actively taking part in this area.
I salute You and the others working with this. In a few years Cyps will be less of a lottery and no wild collections will be done.

I know that the Swedish breeder Svante Malmgren is aiming to get his hybrides easy growing and with easy soil demands. A version of Cyp for garden lovers rather than for only the best growers.

I hope the magic will still be there when one can by lovely Cyps at all garden centers, just like phal and paph.

Joakim Balogh

Hi, Joakim,

Yes you are right about the variability from different parents used even by the same breeder. Malmgren is one of the most important innovators in this area (and with many other terrestrial orchids). Anytime I post a photo of protocorms or seedlings with black media, that is always Malmgren's medium formulation! He has recently put up a superb website in which he discusses many of these issues. It is http://www.lidaforsgarden.com/orchids

Best,

Ron

Yes Ron
I have seen it. :)
It is lovely web page (and also in Swedish for us who understands it. :) ) Lot of intersting knowledge and wisdom distributed with some humor. He also says when he think people are wrong so it might rubb some people the wrong way :)
He seems to have slightly different aproch with hybrids that is easy to grow and easy to flower rather tham using the Chinees Cyps that are semihardy in Europe.
I strongly recommend anyony one that dare to take a look. Be carefull you might get hooked.

Joakim

Very nice Picture .... Of a great flower !!!!