# lowii Half-Album



## Justin (Jan 8, 2012)

Hi All,

Very difficult to capture the pastel colors of this lowii with my camera. It's the Orchid Inn cross 'Albino Beauty' x 'Gigantic'. I saw one of these in bloom that a vendor brought to our OS and was really intrigued by the color so I bought a couple seedlings. I have one more plant in spike that is just about to open up. 

This photo still doesn't do it justice. It is like a regular color lowii, but with muted, soft green and pink colors. I love it.


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## GuRu (Jan 8, 2012)

Very delicate - a typical P. lowii flower with a light colouration!!






But to call it 'half album' is using a misleading term.


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## Justin (Jan 8, 2012)

Ah good point.


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## John Boy (Jan 8, 2012)

Well, this is a fine example what this „half album“ business is all about! 

The half album reference isn’t as much something that makes sense from a taxonomical standpoint, but is more a breeding reference, or a genetic hint to whoever is interested in a plants' background. To me the term “Half Album”, being interested in breeding as well as selecting the best possible plants, makes total sense, and is (IMHO) something we have to learn to deal with. Call it a tool! Your lowii by the way, doesn’t just provide an insight into its' genetics, it also shows a different kind of coloration to go along with that genetic trait, which by no means need to be obvious as an F1 albino breeding seedling. 
I myself am therefore glad that someone came up with a way to explain as well as show what breeding can be about, if you put in some thought…


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## SlipperKing (Jan 8, 2012)

You're on the right track John Boy but "Half Album" still tells me nothing and is poorly use as a footnote for a plant. As with Maudie's we have Album, Coloratum and Vini, now with lowii we have album, "pastel" and coloratum.


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## John M (Jan 8, 2012)

To me, whenever "half album" is used, it refers to the genetics of the plant, not the colour of the flower. "Half album" means that one parent was normal coloured and the other parent was album; meaning that it carries the album gene. So, if it is crossed with a sibling, 1/4 of the seedlings will be album, 1/4 will be pure colouratum and 1/2 will be normal; but, also carrying the album gene, making them "half album" too. If a half album plant is crossed with a pure album, 1/2 the seedlings will be colouratum "half albums" and the other 1/2 will be pure album. 

I'm actually surprised that the flower is a pastel colour. I would've expected the dominant colour genes to fully express the colour, not be toned down. Maybe someone else can explain this?


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## John Boy (Jan 8, 2012)

SlipperKing said:


> You're on the right track John Boy but "Half Album" still tells me nothing and is poorly use as a footnote for a plant. As with Maudie's we have Album, Coloratum and Vini, now with lowii we have album, "pastel" and coloratum.




Granted, if I consider these things with "a taxonomic hat on" it makes no sense. But...: how other than that would you wanted to be pushed into a direction of thinking "genetics" rather than mostly just taxonomy crap which doesn't make any sense, other that to feed a stupid as well as arrogant taxonomists' vanity?


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## JPMC (Jan 8, 2012)

Semantic details aside, I love the flower. Another of my favorites but it is so seldom seen. Thanks for the posting.


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## Justin (Jan 8, 2012)

John M said:


> To me, whenever "half album" is used, it refers to the genetics of the plant, not the colour of the flower. "Half album" means that one parent was normal coloured and the other parent was album; meaning that it carries the album gene. So, if it is crossed with a sibling, 1/4 of the seedlings will be album, 1/4 will be pure colouratum and 1/2 will be normal; but, also carrying the album gene, making them "half album" too. If a half album plant is crossed with a pure album, 1/2 the seedlings will be colouratum "half albums" and the other 1/2 will be pure album.
> 
> I'm actually surprised that the flower is a pastel colour. I would've expected the dominant colour genes to fully express the colour, not be toned down. Maybe someone else can explain this?



It seems that, like fairrieanum, the genes responsible for turning on and off color also allow for expression of "in-between". 

I have been told that in haynaldianum, the offspring of an album crossed to a normal color form can actually come out album.


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## emydura (Jan 8, 2012)

Lovely delicate colour. I like it a lot.

Like JohnM, I'm a bit confused about what is going on here. I would have expected a normal colour.


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## John M (Jan 8, 2012)

Justin said:


> I have been told that in haynaldianum, the offspring of an album crossed to a normal color form can actually come out album.


 Yes, that would happen if the normal colour form was "half album" and therefore, carried the album gene. I doubt that the genetics is so simple that it can be said all half albums must express pastel hues. Then there is the degree to which the normal colours have been muted. There must be some variability, making some simply look like poorly coloured normals and some being almost album; but, with hints of colour here and there.


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## W. Beetus (Jan 8, 2012)

Very nice! I believe the Half album is referring to the genetics and not the color.


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## SlipperFan (Jan 8, 2012)

JPMC said:


> Semantic details aside, I love the flower. ...



I agree! Very nice.


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## NYEric (Jan 8, 2012)

I think the "half album" label gives a clear picture to the genetics behind the bloom's muted color. Thanks for postiing.


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## nikv (Jan 9, 2012)

I like it!  I also like the idea that it is a stepping stone towards an improved "full album" lowii.


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## Roth (Jan 9, 2012)

The colony from where the lowii album came from is in Bakun. The color of the normal form of those plants is already extremely pale, like that photo, and it could be called 'pastel'. We are used to see colored lowii, most bred from the Sabah or Indonesian types. But the photo here is quite typical of a lowii from Sarawak,

Sarawak has way paler lowii than the ones we see in the USA, like here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ericinsf/5932233214/

And that's quite a 'dark' one for a Sarawak type.

and it appears that the light color form is dominant when crossing both together.

Now, if lowii Gigantic comes from Krull Smith, it will be a dead end. The lowii album is a diploid, but the Krull Smith plants are for most of them tetraploids. The cross between the two is a triploid, not very fertile if at all.


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## Eric Muehlbauer (Jan 9, 2012)

That's an interesting photo, Xavier. Years ago, I bought a lowii seedling from L&R (or was it L&K?) a NZ company selling at a GNYOS show. The seedling grew quickly and bloomed, but it was a completely pale, virtually colorless flower, except for the petal tips which were very vivid. To tell you the truth, I hated that bloom...This bloom is nicer.


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## Justin (Feb 8, 2014)

Here's the plant from the original post today...


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## Ozpaph (Feb 8, 2014)

big dorsal


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## PaphMadMan (Feb 8, 2014)

It is common for a heterozygous plant with one "album" gene and one "normal" gene to have essentially full normal coloring, showing simple dominant/recessive inheritance pattern, but it doesn't have to be that way. There are many ways for a flower to lack the red/purple color it might normally have, not one "album" gene but at least several that contribute to the production (and control of production) and distribution of the pigment. You might expect this appearance if a single copy of a particular functional gene is not enough to produce a full dose of color (incomplete dominance), or if the mutation is in the control of the pigment producing process. Think of roses where you have every shade of pink between red and white. Why would you assume that orchids can't exhibit similar genetics?


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## Rick (Feb 8, 2014)

Justin I have a pastel lowii that might be a good one to breed too.

http://www.slippertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=25890&highlight=lowii

It has open blooms now, so I'll try to get a pic tomorrow.


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## Trithor (Feb 9, 2014)

Ozpaph said:


> big dorsal



Yes!!
Amazing that no one else commented on the dorsal, it sure is note-worthy. Pity about the 'tail-tuck' petals, otherwise this would be a stunner, pale or not.


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## Justin (Feb 9, 2014)

Rick said:


> Justin I have a pastel lowii that might be a good one to breed too.
> 
> http://www.slippertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=25890&highlight=lowii
> 
> It has open blooms now, so I'll try to get a pic tomorrow.



Hi Rick looking at your flower i am betting the cross is mislabeled and it is actually this Albino Beauty x Gigantic cross (or reciprocal). There is no color in the dorsal and the shape is very close. I also suspect these may be triploid as the flowers on two clones I have are almost identical. 

PM me your address if you want me to send some pollen your way...if the cross produces viable seed half could be album.


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## Rick (Feb 9, 2014)

Morning Justin

In that old post of mine you mentioned that you had a couple of the same cross from Tom Kalina that you were waiting to bloom out.

Have they bloomed for you yet?


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## Justin (Feb 9, 2014)

no those two plants are still small and growing slowly. another couple years away still...

i've seen the AQ pictures of the MAH X NH cross and they are very yellow with lots of spots, dark dorsals, and horizontal petals. Having flowered 2 clones of the Albino Beauty cross i am very sure that's what yours is too.


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## Rick (Feb 9, 2014)

Justin said:


> no those two plants are still small and growing slowly. another couple years away still...
> 
> i've seen the AQ pictures of the MAH X NH cross and they are very yellow with lots of spots, dark dorsals, and horizontal petals. Having flowered 2 clones of the Albino Beauty cross i am very sure that's what yours is too.




How do you think they would have got mixed up? Were all those crosses down at the same breeder?

Compared to other lowii I have the NH X MAH plant is a slower grower, and doesn't get the same momentum for putting on new growths/roots.

I put it in an oversized basket when I was using a higher percentage of moss. I recently dug out a lot of the old moss and replaced with gravel to get the drainage up better. The best roots were on the side with more rock.

Need to look up some close up picks of that horn above the staminode, and compare it to the one on haynaldianum.


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## Rick (Feb 9, 2014)

Heres some pics of my NH X MAH for this year.














The closeup of the horn is not as clear as I can see under hand lens, the overall shape and size of the horn is very 'lowii', but a bit hairer (and all along the top edge). Could this cross have a hint of 'var. lynniae' in it??


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