Paphiopedilum Maudiae ‘Bankhouse’ (callosum forma viridiflorum x lawrenceanum forma hyeanum) – an albino flower

[terryros]

This plant is reputably from a line of divisions from an original plant at the Dupont estate (subsequently Longwood Gardens) and the current flower is 13.5 cm wide. I don’t think that ‘Bankhouse’ has been mericloned. I have always liked the leaves of this plant and the impressively tall flower spike with its dramatic white and green single flower. I have collected the following information from various sources.

Paph. Maudiae was RHS registered in 1900. There probably were RHS awarded Maudiae during the first decades of the twentieth century, but the first AOS award was a CCC in September 1941, given to the L. Sherman Adams Company for the cultivar ‘Bankhouse’. This cultivar was then AOS awarded again in 2007 with an AM for a 13.4 cm wide flower. There was an AOS FCC given to a Maudiae exhibited by Mrs. W. K. du Pont in September of 1942, but OrchidsPro has no picture or description. Although this could have been ‘Bankhouse’, the subsequent AM to ‘Bankhouse’ in 2007 wouldn’t make sense if it received an FCC in 1942. The remaining 6 FCC awards to Maudiae have been for non-albino forms.

Note: several pages ahead in this chain is a report that an AOS bulletin from 1942 indicates that Mrs. Dupont’s Maudiae was ‘Bankhouse’.

An albino flower lacks anthocyanin pigments, so no shades of red or brown are seen and if carotenes (yellow) and chlorophylls (green) are also lacking, the resulting pure white flower (if a Paphiopedilum) is more specifically called an “album”. However, albino flowers can still display carotenes (yellow) or chlorophylls (green), producing combinations of white, green, and yellow. Thus, albino is an umbrella term with alba/album being a subset of albino.

When the albino form of callosum was identified it was given the forma name of viridiflorum, which means “with green flowers”. Later, some called this form “sanderae”, but the viridiflorum was described first so has precedence. The albino form of lawrenceanum was given the forma name of “hyeanum” but I cannot find a definition for this term.

 

[DirGo]

According to F. Desbois' monographie in 1898 forma hyeanum was named in honor of an amateur grower, Jules Hye living in Ghent, Belgium who was flowering an imported albino plant and that was used to describe this color form.

 

[terryros]

I am very grateful for that information!

 

[NEslipper]

Lovely, I have never heard of this plant, but I will have to add it to the list. I’m not normally a maudiae fan, but I grow a few historical plants for the novelty (Paph. maudiae ‘Magnificum’ FCC/RHS, Paph. Claire de Lune ‘Edgard van Belle’ AM/AOS). My understanding is that ‘Magnificum’ is from the original 1900 grex, so it probably received its FCC quite a while ago.

Do you know if many of these older maudiae have been cloned? I suppose that might explain why they are still relatively common. I had just assumed they were vigorous growers since cloned paphs are still pretty rare.

 

[NEslipper]

Also, here is some additional information about this clone, and it’s many aliases from Orchids Limited:

https://www.orchidweb.com/orchids/p...-bankhaus-callosum-album-x-lawrenceanum-album

 

[Happypaphy7]

It's Bankhaus to be exact.

 

[GuRu]

Nice to see such old plants/crosses still alive and thanks for the informative explanations.

 

[terryros]

Lovely, I have never heard of this plant, but I will have to add it to the list. I’m not normally a maudiae fan, but I grow a few historical plants for the novelty (Paph. maudiae ‘Magnificum’ FCC/RHS, Paph. Claire de Lune ‘Edgard van Belle’ AM/AOS). My understanding is that ‘Magnificum’ is from the original 1900 grex, so it probably received its FCC quite a while ago.

Do you know if many of these older maudiae have been cloned? I suppose that might explain why they are still relatively common. I had just assumed they were vigorous growers since cloned paphs are still pretty rare.

I think that mericloning of Paphs is still very difficult so it is rare to find clones of most elite Paphs. I knew there must be RHS FCCs for Maudiae but have never known how to access RHS awards. How do you do it?

 

[terryros]

It's Bankhaus to be exact.

That was what I had originally thought (and had done with my tags, but the current AOS award listing in OrchidPro uses ‘Bankhouse’, so that is what I am using. I would love to know if the RHS award listing uses ‘Bankhaus’. If so, we should let AOS know to change the cultivar name.

 

[NEslipper]

I think that mericloning of Paphs is still very difficult so it is rare to find clones of most elite Paphs. I knew there must be RHS FCCs for Maudiae but have never known how to access RHS awards. How do you do it?

I don't directly access the awards, when I purchased my division of maudiae 'Magnificum' from Orchids Limited the tag noted that the plant has an FCC/RHS. You can search for plants on the rhs website, and if you search grexes with known awards, I have seen the name of plants I know have an RHS award pop up (including Maudiae 'The Queen' and 'Magnificum'), which I assume means that the search function is somehow connected to the RHS award database.

As a fun tidbit, I was going back through old issues of the AOS bulletin, and Mrs. DuPont's FCC maudiae wasn't even exhibited. It just happened to be in a decorative pot in the room where refreshments were being served at the September, 1942 AOS meeting, and the judges liked it so much they awarded it an FCC on the spot (AOS Bulletin, October 1942, pg 28).

 

[terryros]

Thanks, I will dig a little with RHS. Great story from 1942. I don’t suppose the AOS bulletin noted whether the DuPont Maudiae was ‘Bankhouse’?