This week I will present two plants again.

First plant is Papilionanda Motes Purple Haze.

Papilionanda Motes Purple Haze (Vanda Karnda ‘Hampton’ JC/AOS x Papilionanda Arjuna ‘Illumined’ AM/AOS)

This cross was registered with RHS by Motes Orchids 5/2019.

The parent cross Karnda (1981) (V. tessellata x V. Erika Reuter) is made up of tessellata 50%, sanderiana 25% and curvifolia 25% with no awards since two in 1988. Parent Arjuno (Pda. Mimi Palmer x V. tessellata) has been awarded 8 times since 1995 with most recent in 2019. The background is tessellata (75%), dearie (12.5%), insignis (6.75%) and teres (6.75%)

This cross has not yet been awarded. There is one inflorescence with 7 flowers.

Flower Measurements:

NS H - 4.5 cm; NS V - 4.5 cm;

Dorsal Sep. W - 1.6 cm; Dorsal Sep. L - 2.1 cm;

Petal W - 0.7 cm; Petals L - 1.5 cm;

Lat/Sepal W - 1.8 cm; Lat/Sepal L - 2.2 cm;

Lip W - 1.0 cm; Lip L - 2.0 cm.

Judges' Comments

Al Messina

Seven mostly fenestrated well colored flowers on one lateral inflorescence on a well grown plant; appearances suggest a heavily textured and hard substance; natural spread smaller than geometric mean of parents; flower count unfortunately low ,likely related to tessellata dominance(curvifolia-32,sanderiana-15,tessellata-8);while not a criterion in point scoring, size of plant relative to size/quantity of flowers does produce an impression on a judge: Were these flowers to be observed on a plant perhaps 20% the size of the current plant, some judges might render an award, perhaps an HCC. I will pass on this one.

Note: Video helpful in this case.

Thanks for allowing me to participate.

Kristen Mason

I love the lip and column and the contrast they give with the rest of the flower. The red overlay is nice. Presentation is good.

The underlying marking - especially on the lateral sepals is distracting.

Size and flower count are low. Flower is more open than parents.

I would pass.

Carrie Buchman

Papilionanda Motes Purple Haze

(Vanda Karnda ‘Hampton’ JC/AOS x Papilionanda Arjuna ‘Illumined’ AM/AOS)

The deep wine-red color offset by the white picotee on the segments is eye-catching! The flowers do have significant fenestration which is also evident both parents. OrchidPro does not include the number of flower/inflorescences in the measurements or description for Vanda Karnda ‘Hampton’. The other awarded Vanda Karnda has 19 flower & buds/inflorescence. The Papilionanda Arjuna ‘Illumuned’ parent had 29 Flowers & buds on 3 inflorescences. This appears to a mature plant.

The parents have NS of 4.3cm and 6.5cm respectively. So, the candidate is a bit smaller than you would hope. The photos indicate that the flower is relatively flat, but the petals seem to undulate. What the flower really has going for it, is its color, but the deep fenestration and low flower count lead me to not nominate this flower for a flower quality award.

Kind Regards,

Carrie Buchman

Bob Winkley

Papilionanda Motes Purple Haze

Thank you for sharing this lovely candidate. The overall form is good, with well balanced segments. The coloration is eye-catching, the contrasting lip and column still being in concert with the other segments.

Given the species background, it's not surprising to see some fenestration in the flower. That said, the line breeding in V. tesselata has worked to reduce windowing, especially between the petals and lateral sepals. Given the open nature of the other background species, it would appear that our candidate's line of breeding is looking to reduce fenestration, enhance both the depth of color and lacquer texture, provide a decent flower count, and perhaps end up with flowers slightly larger than V. tesselata.

For form, the petals and sepals are nice and broad, distally flat and appear to be in the same plane. The proximal recurving, which contributes to the fenestration and overall spathulate shape of the segments, is a bit too prominent and appears a bit uneven, which I find distracting. In a number of flowers, especially when viewed head on, the mid lobe of the lip appears to be held at an angle above the perpendicular to the petals and sepals - I definitely think having the lip at the perpendicular or slightly below enhances the overall form of this type of flower. On the flip side, the lip does disguise pretty well the bow-legged nature of the lateral sepals.

On first glance, the color of the flower is striking and the backlighting picks up a tremendous picotee around the petals and sepals. However, the backlighting also highlights some unevenness in the overall saturation of color since the cream base color of the segments comes through in very uneven streaks. The flower's texture is definitely lacquer.

The flower count is good on the inflorescence and arrangement is okay. Horizontal inflorescences appear to be the norm for most of these species but I think the flowers would present better if the inflorescence were supported and held a little higher.

I think this cross and this candidate have potential. I would not nominate it but if it were nominated I would score as a low HCC.

All the best -

Bob W.

Deb Boersma

Papilionanda Motes Purple. Since there have been no awards to date for this plant, I compared to awarded parents.

Parent Papilionande Arjuna

Most of the awarded plants have good flower form, with little to no gaps between the petals and sepals, relatively flat and roundwith some curving on the petals and sepals. ‘Enlightened’ and ‘Wink’ have very well-rounded flowers with no gaps between petals and sepals. Some have quite dark colouration due to the heavy dark, well defined tessellations and a nicely contrasting violet coloured lip. The average flower count for the 5 AMs and the 2 HCCs is 15.

Parent Vanda Karnda

One HCC awarded plant with very flat, round flowers, great form. Some nice spotting on petals and sepals and beautiful orange colour. This plant had 37 flowers. The other award was a JC, commended for its unique colour antique bronze and dark grape on back.

Papilionanda Motes Purple has stunning flowers. The dark, intense colour with the contrasting lilac lip really jumps out at you. However, when I looked closely at some of the pictures, I see some very faint patterns that almost look like water stainsand indistinct markings unlike the well-defined tessellated pattern in the Papilionande Arjuna parent. I thought that this took away from the flower quality. The flower form is not as good as Vanda Karnda ‘Mary Motes’ or Papilionanda Arjuna ‘Enlightened’ and ‘Wink’ as examples. The flower size is smaller that Papilionanda Arjuna parents but about the same size as the Vanda Karnda parent. It is less floriferous than either parent, Papilionanda Arjuna average 15 flowers, Vanda Karndahad 37 flowers. I do not think that this is an improvement over the parents so I would not recommend it for a quality award.

Martin Motes

In real judging, I, of course, would not comment on this plant which I created but as this is a training exercise, here goes. This plant is the result of line breeding of V. tessellata “Mary Motes” FCC/AOS but components of the hybrid also have roots in Thailand. Both the V. Karnda and the Pda. Mimi Palmer AM/RHT came from T Orchids which was also the source for the V. tessellata “Mary Motes”. In the 1980’s T Orchids was doubtless in possession of the S. Indian form of V. tessellata which they used to create V. Karnda and also selfed or sibbed to create the seedlings from which “Mary Motes” emerged. This southern race of V. tessellata was also surely used in Singapore to create Pda. Mimi Palmer, a hybrid of dubious accuracy in its parentage as it shows no influence from its semi-terete parent. Subsequent re-makes of Pda. Mimi Palmer bear no resemblance to the original hybrid and as expected are ¼ terete. More likely, Pda. Mimi Palmer should be seen as a hybrid of V. tessellata with V. insignis or an insignis hybrid, as it clearly shows the influence of those two species.

In any case, our remake of Pda. Arjuna yielded numerous award-winning progeny. The clone “Enlightened” AM/AOS when crossed to the JC variety of V. Karnda, which was recognized for its striking color, produced Pda. Motes Purple Haze. This line of breeding produces two aesthetically pleasing color types. Some nearly black, exceptionally dark flowers emerge and are much coveted. Others, like our plant, present a pleasantly striking contrast between the lip color and the solid colored tepals (a useful and botanically correct term forbidden in AOS descriptions). Both patterns of color have received recognition in AOS and international judging.

Our example of Pda. Motes Purple Haze would rate highly for color and with the amount of V. tessellata and V. insignis in its background would, though open, score fairly highly in form for its flatness.

What is lacking is flower count. Although both V. tessellata (in its southern forms) and V. insignis are relatively few flowered, the V. Erika Reuter, grandparent, would lead one to hope for a few more flowers. Although the inflorescence is nicely arched, a bit of support would have allowed the flowers to open in better alignment.

Perhaps on a slightly stronger flowering this plant would merit award consideration.

Meanwhile, this whole line of breeding which has produced several hybrids of note, like V. Karina Motes, V. Motes Midnight, and V. Motes Purple Rain is still awaiting an Award of Distinction.

Elena Skoropad

First impression: the color is stunning!

There are no awards for this cross

Awards for parents:

Vanda Karnda has 2 awards - one JC and one HCC. The HCC plant has totally different color and 37 flowers in 2 inflorescences. No flower count on JC award.

Second parent Papilionanda Arjuna has 7 awards 2 HCCs and 5 AMs. The average number of flower on one inflorescence is 14 and average NS is 6.5 cm

Our candidate has 7 flowers on one inflorescence NS 4.5. What I like about this plant is deep saturated color of petals and nice contrast with the lip. The form is good, all segments are very proportional and flower is flat. This plant has extremely high potential for future award. It needs more flowers or perhaps 2 inflorescences to be qualified for the flower quality award. This is relatively young plant and can show full potential in the next blooming. Kudos to the grower, excellent job, please bring it back next time.

Thank you,

Elena

Exhibitor - Bill and Deb Bodei, NJ (Associate Judge, Northeast Judging Center)