I would like to present second plant for this week - Cattleya Trudi and Red Marsh (C. pumila x C. Red Jewel).

This cross was originated and registered by Santa Barbara Orchid Estate in 2008. Although this is a complex cross, two cattleya species dominates there: C. pumila (50%) and C. coccinea (31.26%).

There’s no award for this cross, but in OrchidPro we can find numbers of awards for the parents:

82 AOS awards for C. pumila (90 awards total);

5 AOS awards for C. Red Jewel.

Please read information from exhibitor:

C. (Slc) Trudi and Red Marsh - 2 flowers on one inflorescence.

Flower Measurements:

NS H - 9.8 cm; NS V - 10.3 cm;

Dorsal Sep. W - 2.4 cm; Dorsal Sep. L - 5.5 cm;

Petal W - 4.3 cm; Petals L - 5.4 cm;

Lat/Sepal W - 2.4 cm; Lat/Sepal L - 5.2 cm;

Lip/Pouch W - 2.4 cm; Lip/Pouch L - 4.1 cm (not unrolling the side lobes).

Substance average.

First 4 pictures done by DSRL camera and last 2 by IPhone.

Judges' Comments

Al Messina (Accredited Judge, Northeast Judging Center)

Two nicely presented, well formed, relatively flat flowers well held just above the foliage displaying good concolor saturation and what appears to be diamond dust texture, bearing a strong resemblance to a plant photo submitted by a certain C. Buchman and published in Orchid Wiz. While a number of Red Jewel clones displayed smallish, unremarkable flowers, several were excellent overall and appear to have transmitted their genetic material through to their progeny; this, likely, is one of them. Size overall is good for the cross. Although petals have reasonable size and form, they fall short of the best coccinea hybrids but quite adequate for a flower award in the HCC range, perhaps a marginal AM.

Thanks for allowing me to participate.

Ed Weber (Accredited Judge, Mid-Atlantic Judging Center)

Beautiful color. Nice flat flowers. Held nicely without staking.

Analysis: the specimen is on the small side compared to the pumila award records which run from 8.0 to 14. Red Jewel has apparently affected the size of the cross.

Red Jewel averages 2 flowers per inflorescence and pumila 1 flower so the flower count is exactly what I would expect.

C. pumila 'KG's Hot Ticket' very closely resembles our specimen however the lip of the specimen is clearly reduced in size and favors the small lip of the coccinea grandparent. I prefer a larger lip on a flower of this size.

Petal width on pumila runs from 3.4 to 7.0. At 4.3 our specimen is again slightly below expectations. Petal width on Red Jewel runs 2.2 to 3.5 explaining why this specimen falls in where it does.

Conclusion: My evaluation is that this plant is not eligible for a flower award at this time and I would pass on nominating it.

Respectfully,

Ed Weber

Kristen Mason (Accredited Judge, Cincinnati Judging Center)

Beautiful vibrant, consistent intense color.

I love the subtle veining on the sepals and petals.

Nice markings and contrast in the lip

Spectacular texture.

Fuller flowers than either parent.

Size favores the larger parent and is above the geometric mean in natural spread, width and length in all segments

Floriferousness is slightly above the geometric mean

Slight cupping in flowers (but not entirely unexpected given the parentage)

Some crowding on the inflorescence - also not unexpected or excessive.

Overall a nice combination of its parents and an improvement on 2 really nice parents.

I pointed this at 79.

Trevor Yee (Accredited Judge, AOC, Australia)

The petals are not sitting flat and somewhat convexed (evidenced by the central ridge line). The 2 flowers have set too close to each other causing the petals of the two flowers to be pushed up against each other, hence not allowing the petals to open up fully. These issues mean there are gaps between the floral segments. The lip is reminiscent of C. pulima with the tubular labellum.

Colour is very good. It's clean and clear - without any colour breaks or blemishes. Substance & texture appear to be good (based on visual appreciation).

Unfortunately, the flower shape and presentation has let it down. Therefore, I don't believe it is worthy of an award on this flowering.

Alan Koch (Accredited Judge, California Sierra Nevada Judging Center)

Cattleya Trudi and Red Marsh

This is a large plant with 2 flowers. Considering the genetics flower count is fine. In breeding with the genetics here flower color is uniformally good in this type of breeding and shape is more difficult to achieve because of the Cattleya pumila. Color is good here, but shape is lacking. When Cattleya coccinea is over 25% of the cross, the majority of the cross comes out flat with rounder petals. I would have passed on the Red Jewel awarded in Taiwan as it was not flat or full. Too often judges give too many points when they see more flowers on a plant. Since no clones of this cross have been awarded look at similar breeding. I made Cattleya Purple Fantasy with one of the grandparents of Red Jewel, Precious Stones x sincorana. Look at the awarded Clones of 'Deer Creek' and 'Big Ben', where the parent Precious Stones has far narrower petals than Red Jewel and sincorana, another hadrolaelia breeds similar to pumila. You can see the intense color on both of these clones and the fuller shape than the Red Jewel. Having bloomed out several thousand plants in this line of breeding I would pass on this plant.

Deb Boersma (Student Judge, Great Lakes Judging Center)

Cattleya Trudi and Red Marsh is a stunning flower. It has good form, round flat flowers. The petals a wide and round, the dorsal is upright, the lip has a pleasing tubular form. Looks like it inherited the tubular lip from the C. pumila parent. I think the overall form is an improvement from C. pumila, it is fuller and rounder, a wider dorsal sepal, less recurving in the petals and the dorsal sepal is more upright than C. pumila. It look as though it inherited this fuller form the Cattleya Red Jewel. I think the tubular lip structure is an improvement over the Cattleya Red Jewel parent.

I really like the colour, it is very vibrant and I believe it has picked this up from the C. coccinea parentage. I think the colour is much deeper than the C. Red Jewel, some of them appear to be washed out in the award photos. The interior of the lip is slightly lighter giving some contrast to the rest of the flower and has nice striations.

Flower size is comparable to parents, texture looks slightly crystalline, it would have been nice if there were 1 or 2 more flowers and if the flowers had been arranged so that they were not touching each other.

I would nominate this plant for a flower quality award. I scored it at AM 82

Thanks

Carrie Buchman (Associate Judge, Northeast Judging Center)

I have grown this plant and it is delightful. Its natural spread and floriferousness is about what should be expected from the parents. The flowers are a bit crowded which is distorting the flowers slightly and making them appear cupped. The flower has potential, but because of the crowding, I would not nominate for a flower quality award on this flowering.

Bob Winkley (Accredited Judge, Northeast Judging Center)

Thank you for sending along such a lovely flower! The color is very nice and the overall conformation definitely fills a circle.

While it is a very complex hybrid, we are basically looking at a cross with many recent doses of both Cattleya coccinea and Cattleya pumila, which had me looking at Cattleya Orpetii. The flowers we are looking at are larger, but they are not quite as full as the best C. Orpetii. The sepals and petals all appear to be in the same plane, though the petals seem to be a little crowded between the flowers and a little unequal in shape. The side lobes are coming over the column, which I find very attractive. A real plus for this plant, and what it is getting from the other species in the background, is the ability to produce two flowers on the inflorescence, a rare trait for both C. coccinea and C. pumila. The plant is pretty large, so I would want to see more flowers.

At this time I don't think I would nominate this plant on this flowering.

All the best,

Bob W.

Sergey Skoropad (Associate Judge, Northeast Judging Center)

Cattleya Trudi and Red Marsh (C. pumila x C. Red Jewel).

Beautiful flowers, great presentation!

This cross involving two important species - Cattleya pumila and Cattleya coccinea.

Let’s closer look at the parents:

C. pumila normally produces one flower per inflorescence and if I referred to clone ‘Mirtha Isabel’ AM/AOS Petal W is 4.0 cm with Natural Spread as 11.4 cm.

Cattleya Red Jewel ‘Chien Ya’ AM/AOS has 6 flowers on 3 inflorescences with Petals W 3.4 cm and Natural Spread 6.8 cm.

Back to our candidate - with the Natural Spread H 9.8 cm and Petals W 4.3 cm flowers can create pleasant flower presentation (exactly between two important species). Two flowers on one inflorescence could be ok for this cross (each species normally produces one flower per inflorescence).

I can see larger flower than parent C. Red Jewel and better shape, rounded petals closed to C. coccinea.

Looks like our current candidate took best of the patients.

That was just mathematical research.

Regarding color and presentation, I think deep red color is taking breath away! Beautiful, almost flat, full flowers.

I would nominate for flower award and score as high HCC.

Thanks

Sergey Skoropad

Deb Bodei (Associate Judge, Northeast Judging Center)

C. (Slc) Trudi and Red Marsh

Observations and Commentary

Looking at this plant for a possible flower award.

Two nice large flowers for a small sized plant. Flower size is influenced by pumila parent and is larger but the petals lost some width compared to Red Jewel. The narrow coccinea lip has dominated this cross and I think the lip of Red Jewel was better. I do like the color. It is less orange and more of a cool purple-red which is pleasing.

Recommendation

However, I do not necessarily think this cross is an improvement on the parents and have to pass on a nomination.

Thank you,

Deb

Exhibitor - Ken Jacobsen, CA (Accredited Judge, Pacific Central Judging Center)