This cross was made in 2010 by Orchids Limited and I was fortunate to first report its blooming in 2016. With the agreement of Jerry Fischer and his wife Yoko, we registered the hybrid as Phragmipedium Yoko W. Fischer. The cross is Peruflora’s Cirila Alca (kovachii x dalessandroi) x besseae ‘Rob’s Choice’. The Peruflora’s Cirila Alca is thought to be diploid while besseae ‘Rob’s Choice’ is known to be tetraploid, so this hybrid should be triploid (3N) and likely a dead end for further breeding.
This picture is from the 4 day-open first flower of my third blooming of the plant. This photo was taken outside in the morning without direct light on the flower. The background is a dahlia plant. The natural spread of the width is 12 cm but it might still increase modestly over the next week.
Phrag besseae was officially described in 1981. In 1985, Dennis D'Alessandro described a new population of plants that many considered a new species that was named Phrag dalessandroi. This new species was described as different from besseae: "Instead of having bright, dark red flowers with the petals acute and held stiffly outward, plants of the Zamora population have more yellow in the flowers, and the petals are obtuse at the apex and hang downward a bit. The inflorescences are shorter and more compact, and the plants are much easier to cultivate than those of the other populations."
However, the controversy about dalessandroi being a separate species continued from 1985 until about 1997 when several groups decided that it should be named besseae var. dalessandroi. But this decision did not penetrate well because the RHS did not change the hybrids that had been made with dalessandroi up until 1997 to synonyms of the same crosses that had been made with besseae.
In addition, Fritz Schomburg (FS) (kovachii x besseae) out of Piping Rock was accepted by the RHS on March 7, 2007 and then Peruflora’s Ciriila Alca (kovachii x dalessandroi) out of Peruflora was accepted on June 11, 2007. If RHS considered dalessandroi to be a var. of besseae, they wouldn't have accepted the PCA registration. The PCA parent used in this Yoko W. Fischer cross was shown in a Slippertalk post in 2010 by Robert-Jan Quene of Orchids Limited in which he showed the differences between Peruflora’s Cirila Alca and Fritz Schomburg.
Phrag. Fritz Schomburg vs Peruflora's Cirilia Alca
Several recent new hybrids show the continued stance by RHS. Piping Rock registered the back-cross of PCA to dalessandroi as Ekolu in 2011 and they registered the cross Peruflora's Spirit x dalessandroi as Ekolu Quintal in 2014. The acceptance of Phrag Yoko W. Fischer (YWF) indicates that the RHS still considers dalessandroi to be separate from besseae for hybridization purposes.
This picture is from the 4 day-open first flower of my third blooming of the plant. This photo was taken outside in the morning without direct light on the flower. The background is a dahlia plant. The natural spread of the width is 12 cm but it might still increase modestly over the next week.
Phrag besseae was officially described in 1981. In 1985, Dennis D'Alessandro described a new population of plants that many considered a new species that was named Phrag dalessandroi. This new species was described as different from besseae: "Instead of having bright, dark red flowers with the petals acute and held stiffly outward, plants of the Zamora population have more yellow in the flowers, and the petals are obtuse at the apex and hang downward a bit. The inflorescences are shorter and more compact, and the plants are much easier to cultivate than those of the other populations."
However, the controversy about dalessandroi being a separate species continued from 1985 until about 1997 when several groups decided that it should be named besseae var. dalessandroi. But this decision did not penetrate well because the RHS did not change the hybrids that had been made with dalessandroi up until 1997 to synonyms of the same crosses that had been made with besseae.
In addition, Fritz Schomburg (FS) (kovachii x besseae) out of Piping Rock was accepted by the RHS on March 7, 2007 and then Peruflora’s Ciriila Alca (kovachii x dalessandroi) out of Peruflora was accepted on June 11, 2007. If RHS considered dalessandroi to be a var. of besseae, they wouldn't have accepted the PCA registration. The PCA parent used in this Yoko W. Fischer cross was shown in a Slippertalk post in 2010 by Robert-Jan Quene of Orchids Limited in which he showed the differences between Peruflora’s Cirila Alca and Fritz Schomburg.
Phrag. Fritz Schomburg vs Peruflora's Cirilia Alca
Several recent new hybrids show the continued stance by RHS. Piping Rock registered the back-cross of PCA to dalessandroi as Ekolu in 2011 and they registered the cross Peruflora's Spirit x dalessandroi as Ekolu Quintal in 2014. The acceptance of Phrag Yoko W. Fischer (YWF) indicates that the RHS still considers dalessandroi to be separate from besseae for hybridization purposes.
