Paphiopedilum 'Mrs. William Pickup' or Paph 'Perseus'

[ElizaHH]

Hi.
Would anyone know what Paphiopedilum 'Mrs. William Pickup' looks like or what Paph 'Perseus' looks like? An orchid was created for my mother in 1930 with these two as the parents. Any help/images would be appreciated.
Thank you so much.
Elizabeth

 

[NYEric]

There are listings of plants with Paph Perseus as a parent. Good Luck.

 

[tomkalina]

The hybrid is called Paph. Joan Harris and it was registered by S. Low in 1931. No photo, though.

 

[ElizaHH]

I am a beginner and have looked online for plants with Perseus and Mrs William Pickup as the parents (or one of the parents) and have had no luck. Would you mind steering me toward these "lists".

Thank you both for responding!!

 

[tim]

Paph. Perseus

Paph. Perseus is a grex registered in 1925 by William R. Lee, after whom Paph. Leeanum and Paph. W.R. Lee are named. His collection was amongst the finest in England at the time, including a tremendous selection of paphs, of which Paph. stonei 'Platytaenium' was a part. This grex involves the normal suite of early contributors to complex paphs - insigne, villosum, boxalii, and spicerianum, although a branch of its family tree is unknown. It represents the first attempts at selective breeding for color, and was a very successful grex in its day; there are several clones awarded by the RHS and the Manchester Orchid Society in the 1920s and 1930s.

This clone, Paph. Perseus 'Stonehurst' AM/RHS, 1927, was shown by noted paph (and more importantly, Miltoniopsis) grower Robert Paterson. He is perhaps most famous for owning Miltonia Lycaena 'Stamperland', an aneuploid which, breeding as a tetraploid, is in the background of nearly every modern red Miltoniopsis. The remainders of his collection was purchased by Lows at his death, so it is possible that 'Stonehurst' was the actual clone used in your Paph. Joan Harris.

Paph. Joan Harris made its way to the US fairly early, with records appearing in the Massachusetts Hort Society Yearbook as early as 1936 being shown by an Edward Webster.

Give me some time and I can search around for Mrs. William Pickup as well...

 

[NYEric]

Yay Slippertalk!

 

[tim]

Paph. Mrs. William Pickup FCC/RHS

This plant is the result of crossing Alcibiades, one of the parents of Perseus, with Thisbe; this grex as well involves the normal suite for complex paphs, with the red color coming from combinations involving villosum. It was registered by William Pickup in 1919, and this clone was shown by George Moore in 1924. I wasn't able to find much information on William Pickup, but George Moore had a wonderful collection of paphs pre-WWII, with one greenhouse dedicated to growing nearly 250 distinct varieties of Paph. insigne alone. As a wealthy financier, he endowed the George Moore Medal, presented to the best Paph awarded by the RHS each year; an offspring from Paph. Mrs. William Pickup and the noted red breeder Atlantis 'The Cardinal' AM/RHS, called Paph. Kay-Kay, won the medal in 1936.

It seems that Paph. Joan Harris would have been a pretty good red, a good combination of some of the best reds of the pre-WWII era in paphs, sent along with a large number of other seedlings to the US from war-torn England from Lows.

Hope this helps you in your searching. It's impressive that your moms had such a beautiful and historically important plant named in her honor.

The best "list" for finding pedigrees of orchids online is that maintained by the RHS: http://apps.rhs.org.uk/horticulturaldatabase/orchidregister/orchidresults.asp

 

[TyroneGenade]

You really have to commend the artists who painted this pictures. They were very accurate. Do you see the dents in the pouch of the Perseus? And the less than symmetrical pouch (which is also bed to one side) of the William Pickup? I think these are very reliable records of these plants, and what stunners they were!