who is Winston Churchill's daddy?

[Leo Schordje]

If you consider villosum, boxalii & gratrixianum all part of Paph villosum then most of the 'Bulldogs' really owe their look to villosum as much or more than they do to insigne. Paph villosum is certainly the source of much of the way color is distributed in modern complex hybrids. There were a few polyploid villosum clones that may have been used in the past also, I think? villosum 'Loydds' was one such polyploid, though I am not near any of the referrence books I could consult, so I might be in error on which clones were polyploid. The right sequence of select villosum, with a shot or two of charlesworthii, over the course of several generations, may give very nice reds. As Paul says, showing Paph hybrids was a very competitice sport in its day and not disclosing the actual parentage was a way to keep the competition off your trail in the race for more RHS awards.

 

[TyroneGenade]

...The right sequence of select villosum, with a shot or two of charlesworthii, over the course of several generations, may give very nice reds...

Hmm. Sounds like a challenge. Time to go shopping for a nice charlesworthii and villosum and see what can be done... Maybe some bellatulum to round out the shape?

So, Leo and Paul, what would be your sequence of breeding for something W.C.-like if you had to start from scratch?

 

[paworsport]

When I started on my path in breeding complex in 1962 many of the growers NEVER divulged the correct parentage of their plants.
I know that several of the VERY famous names from the Ratcliffe stable were untrue!!!
As an example Orchilla "Chilton" AM/GMM/RHS-FCC/AOS and Startler "Glace" AM?RHS were,I think from the same seed pod.
I knew most of the Golden Oldies from that era.......................great breeders........................but!!!
So, no IF we tried to remake most of the famous complex that came out of England.........................immpossible
Ah! well

Do you think it is the same for Ratcliffe white complex paphs ?