Discovering/creating new unique hybrids

I don't think I'm using journals for what they are meant to be used for but I don't care, I'll find out what they are meant for eventually.

I want to be helpful. I notice some things. I see some hybrids online that I have never heard of. I am desperate to see what they look like, but I just can't find any information online. An example is Platanthera × vossii. I've searched far and wide to see what this orchid looks like, as it seems just so bizzare and interesting. It's a hybrid between P. blephariglottis and P. clavellata, which i thought was unusual as I figured the fringed orchids only hybridize with other fringed orchids, but then I remember that fringed orchids are in the genus Platanthera, and so are many other non-fringed orchids. Orchids usually only hybridize with others in the same genus, right? You can't just hybridize a Platanthera with a Cypripedium, right?
Anyways, back to P. × vossii. In the book, Orchids Of The Western Great Lakes Region by Fredrick W. Case, Jr, lies the only picture of P. × vossii, that I know of at least. It looks just so interesting to me. It gets the fringed labellum from P. blephariglottis and the small sepals/pedals from P. clavellata.
Now, if P. blephariglottis can hybridize with a non fringed orchid P. clavellata, could something like Platanthera lacera × Platanthera huronensis be created? I have to figure that out, I'm getting myself super curious.
I plan on manually cross-pollinating some orchid species (like the one mentioned maybe) and collecting the seeds. I would likely sow them in the same area I got the seeds from, because growing orchids by seed at home is tricky. I have only used the cardboard germination method. After sowing them, I just have to be extremely patient.

Or maybe sometime in the future, on some nice sunny day in a bog, not knowing what I am about to uncover...

Posted on January 27, 2024 04:59 PM by michiganfairies