I would like to present new plant for the Virtual Judging exercise (week 5) - Cattleya sincorana.

Cattleya sincorana is accepted name by WCSP (Kew), Schltr.) Van den Berg, Neodiversity 3: 11 (2008).

Found in Brazil (Bahia) in dry, barren, sandstone areas with daily dews on rocky ledges and on the trunks of velloizia bushes at elevations around 1100 to 1500 meters as a miniature sized, cool growing lithophytic or epiphytic species that bloom in winter in Brazil and spring in cultivation in the northern hemisphere, on a short to 2.4” (6 cm) inflorescence carrying 1 to 4 flowers arising with a new growth.

Candidate has 6 flowers on 4 inflorescences.

The plant has been growing in 10 x10cm basket with bark mix for 6 years. It was bought from Gold Country Orchids - it is probably tetraploid.

The plant hangs in the warm east end of the greenhouse which gets the most light all day.

Shade cloth is 30 - 40% in winter and 50 - 60% in summer.

Flower Measurements:

NS H - 12.0 cm; NS V - 12.0 cm;

Dorsal Sep. W - 2.0 cm; Dorsal Sep. L - 6.5 cm;

Petal W - 3.5 cm; Petals L - 6.5 cm;

Lat/Sepal W - 1.5 cm; Lat/Sepal L - 6.0 cm;

Lip W - 1.25 cm; Lip L - 2.5 cm

Plant Height - 14cm

Plant Size - 19cm long x 18.5cm wide

There are 36 AOS awards in OrchidPro including different color forms. Recent awards on similar color form - clone ‘Big Ben’ AM 81 pts, 04/01/2015 (2 flowers on 1 infl., flower size 10.5 x 10.7 cm, H x V; petals width 3.7 cm) and clone ‘Bella Vista’ AM 82 pts 11/13/2014 (5 flowers on 2 infl., flower size 11.0 x 10.3 cm; petals 3.8 cm width).

Judges' Comments

Al Messina

Plant is very well grown. I have difficulty seeing the numbers on the ruler, likely related to my advanced age. If NS of 12.0 is correct, t would be among the largest of its species. Form is typical of the species with recurved flower parts and a recumbant lie. Color is quite good. Should be an easy CCM in a few years with, perhaps, twice the number of flowers. At this time on this bloom, a mid level AM would be appropriate, in my opinion.

Thanks for allowing me to participate in this exercise.

Al Messina

Deborah Bodei

Please accept my commentary of the candidate Cattleya sincorana based on the following observations:

General Observations:

I would have enjoyed seeing this lovely rupicolous miniature in person! What a beautifully grown plant! For this exercise I will be considering the candidate for a flower award. The condition of the pseudobulbs and roots shows this plant has clearly been grown with the high humidity it needs to bloom like this. However, the recent cultural awards have been given to plants with an average of 11 flowers compared to six here, so that award might be more appropriate for a future flowering.

Specific Considerations

o aside from the slight recurve in petals and sepals which this species tends to do, these blooms do have full, flat and round going for them when comparing to others awarded from this species

o flower size is average or better on most segments as well as overall

o overall form is good

o overall color is very good with no obvious marks or color breaks

o the shading (created by the veining and color overlay) and markings on these blooms is the wow factor especially in the petals and the lip; the placement of the markings and blushing lavender color give the bloom incredible dimension according to the photo; the picotee margins on the lip and placement of the white on the lip contribute to its stunning appearance; I suspect the plant was grown in the cool environment it prefers to produce this rich color

o even though it is the coloring that ultimately sets this flower apart, it has multiple attributes that support the overall appearance

Recommendations for nomination:

Based on color, form and overall condition I would feel confident nominating this plant for a flower award. From what I can tell from the photos, it would probably score somewhere between 82 and 85 points in my opinion.

Thank you,

Deb

Ginna Plude

I would nominate it for a flower quality award. The culture looks really good, but the a lowest pointed culture award had more flowers/buds than this candidate. I think I'd need to see it in person to decide on whether a culture award would be appropriate too.

The flower color is really nice and consistent across all flowers. Lips appear very consistent as well, no significant variation in the ruffling along the edges.

Overall size is larger compared to previous flower awards.

It is difficult from the photographs to determine how reflexed the dorsal sepal is, but that would just factor into pointing.

Plant is beautifully groomed and the flowers present very well (at least in pictures). I don't know anything about this species in particular, but the overhead shot makes me wonder if it is somewhat underflowered. There appear to be quite a few more mature but not flowered/flowering pseudobulbs.

Omar Bounds

I can give you a little background on this one.

Some years ago...decades by now, Alan Koch brought in many sincoranas from Brazil. He was having trouble finding one to use as a stud, sinsorana being one of those that just didn't adapt well to culture in captivity. Most died but he bloomed out a few, line bred the survivors. Over time he produced a superior clone or two and it is believed that they are indeed tetraploid although I know of no one who has tested such. Alan would be the guy to ask.

I grew both a compost of sincorana that I picked up from Brazilian source and one or two of Alan's seedlings. This was easily 25 years ago. I grew them and repiculous lalieas together, hard light and various dry mixes. I did best with a horizontal mount, but the sincoranas simply would not bloom and eventually died off. They didn't like Dresher.

This one is a stunner. Super culture and 1st class flowers. I didn't look it up but on 1st glance I'd bet that it surpasses most on record. Form & presentation are exceptional.

Omar

Beth Davis

Good morning Sergey, Here are a few comments on Laelia sincorana. I know I'm being difficult but I can think about it much clearer if I think Laelia.

This plant is beautifully grown. We want to see a petite, well ordered plant with the contrast of large, attractive flowers. It's typical for the sepals to be somewhat reflexed and the petals to be somewhat on the tips. The petals can droop slightly. In our candidate there seems to be, looking at the photographs and not the actual plant, that perhaps a few flowers stand out being a little more "flat" then a few of the others. In the last picture (from overhead) the flower all the way on the left seems to not be a reflexed as the others.

The lip on sincorana also tend to be more elongated and less round then some of the other species in this 'group" in comparison to say Laelia pumila which has a very round lip. There is something about the lip on this flower that seems off. Not as wide? flat? Then I look again in Orchid Pro and see that it appears that "Waterford' received an HCC 78 points this week in 2004. The whole flower gained size all around except for in the lip. Maybe that answers my question but again these observations are only from a photograph.

Thank you to the grower for sharing this beautifully grown plant.

Beth

Ed Weber

Size-wise this plant is, in my opinion eligible for a flower award. The recurving of the petals gives me pause, however, looking at the award record this appears to be a normal part of this plant's development. Color saturation is less than many of the awarded clones, most closely resembling 'Amazon'. Lip coloration is nice but I wish the markings were more distinct. Given the cultural awards on record this plant falls into the lower end of the bell curve. 2 flowers per inflorescence appears to be the norm, which we have here except for one. The plant is exceptionally clean and happy.

I would not nominate this plant for an award myself but if someone else were to do so my score would be between 79 and 82 for a flower award and around 81 or 82 for a cultural award.

Mr. Ed

Christian Carrillo

My comments:

I am not fond of the color change in the middle ridge of the lip. While its regular from flower to flower, I find it distracting and it breaks the overall presentation and harmony of the flower's color.

The white of the throat is excellent and adds for a true central focus of the flower.

The dark pink color around the outer perimeter of the lip is a great feature.

Better examples of the species are darker in overall color, but this candidate has consistent color within each flower, and from flower to flower.

Yes, the size is huge -- one of the biggest in comparison to AOS records -- but its size makes the flower seem less full, specifically where the petals join the base of the flower. It "looks" narrow.

6 flowers is very impressive; and they are presented & spaced wonderfully.

While definitely an "AM" flower in my perspective (based on images only), a richer and darker color would increase its score.

Cathy Higgins

Here it is, Sergey:

The plant is making a beautiful presentation. Flowers have a spectacular lip. Unfortunately, in my opinion the recurved dorsal sepals preclude a flower award. The award record indicates that the species is capable of producing many more flowers, so I think it's a marginal candidate for a culture award, despite the impressive presentation.

Cathy Higgins

John Sullivan

This plant is a well-grown, well-flowered example of this species. As is often the case with species, some of the problems persist even if this is a tetraploid. Hybridization can advance the form in particular. The main criticism I have of this flower is the imbalance of the petals. They roll back distally. If they did so in a symmetric manner the effect could be pleasant, but this is not the case, so the overall petal effect is a bit helter-skelter.

However, it has redeeming features. The ‘Big Ben’ comparison is a good one since the color, shape, and size are similar to our candidate. On the whole, with wider petals ‘Big Ben' fills the circumscribed circle better but it is a smaller flower than the candidate and there are only 2 flowers. I am glad that Sergey contacted the grower and found that this is not the same plant, nor a division of the awarded ‘Waterford’. I spoke with Sergey about the reported lip size which I am certain is incorrect. The listed 2.5cm length by 1.25cm width are too small for the scale of the flower.

What does this plant have going for it? I believe the size of the flowers is a step above the previous awards, as is the number of flowers. There is a CCM of 87 points with 21flowers and 2 buds, so this plant on this flowering is not yet a cultural award candidate in my opinion.

Besides the size and number of flowers, there are 2 aspects which would lead me to nominate it. The color seems to me to have a soft pastel-like appearance which is pleasing. Also, the central part of the lip is marked with 3 parallel vertical fuchsia stripes which distinctly split the sides lobes. In other plants this central area of the lip appears to be less definitive. Overall, I believe the candidate is award-worthy, and I would likely give it 82 or 83 points because I think it raises the bar for C. sincorana a bit.

Carrie Buchman

Cattleya sincorana

This is a beautifully grown plant with clean foliage, plump smooth pseudobulbs, healthy roots and beautiful flowers. There are several previous flower and cultural awards to this species. A clone with this same name received an HCC (78) in 2004 with 2 flat flowers (as per photo and description) on 2 inflorescences. The candidate flower has beautiful color and markings with reflexed sepals and petals, typical of the species. The reflex in the dorsal sepal and petals appears in varying degrees in previous awards pictures; the awarded ‘Waterford’ clone’s flowers are described as flat in the award description and the picture show no segment reflex. The candidate plant has a pronounced cleft in the lip which is visible, in varying degrees, in previously awarded plants.

The awarded ‘Waterford’ clone and this plant have been identified as “different”. It’s too bad they share a clonal name. There are differences in the color, flat vs. reflexed segments, and lip size & shape. So, there is evidence that they are indeed different.

The candidate flower is large and round with a natural spread of 12 cm; and, as Sergey notes, is most likely a tetraploid. The segments are longer and wider as we would expect from a tetraploid, in contrast the lip is narrower and shorter than the previously awarded plants, assuming that the lip length measurements provided are correct. Perhaps it is the angle of the photo, but the lip in the candidate photos doesn’t look as short as the measurements indicate. In one photo, the lip appears to be as long as a petal (~6 cm) which would be more consistent than the previously awarded clones. Although the flower is larger, the segment apical reflex is pronounced.

The 2 most recent cultural awards are 21+2 on 13 inflorescences (1.8/inflorescence) (87 pts) and 13+3 on 9 inflorescences (1.8/inflorescences) (83 pts). The candidate plant is 6+0 on 4 inflorescences (1.5/inflorescence). Unfortunately, Orchid Pro lacks pictures for several of the cultural awards. The candidate plant is beautifully grown but does not have the flower count of previous cultural awards on this blooming.

Carrie

Mark Werther

The plant and display of flowers is impressive. Natural horizontal spread and the petals top most of previous award measurements. My first instinct was to say that I have seen some great sincorana's that were flatter. My second review changes, as I was looking at very good confirmation, and I particularly liked the darker pink line splash on the petals and the good confirmation of the contrasting lip. The negative is the reflexing of the petals and dorsal. The strength of the flowers overpowers the negatives. And considering the large number of poorly shaped flowers in the awards record, these flowers are generally superior. I would be at high HCC to 81.

Mark Werther

Elena Skoropad

Beautiful presentation!

However, not enough flowers for a culture award. There are couple of CCMs in the OrchidPro, CCM plants have in average 20 flowers.

I would consider a flower award. The candidate plant has wonderful lip; flower size larger than usual. This plant has 12 cm NS compare to all previous plant ranging from 9.5 to 11 cm

I analyzed all 37 sincoranas awards - what is interesting - it was a big batch of awards given in late 70s early 90s. After 1996 it was almost 10-15 years break, no awards. Than in the mid 2000 we started seeing more and more awards on sincoranas. It looks like new type of breeding emerged, they had made some improvements in the shape and size of flowers - fuller and wider petals, distinctive lip color.

Our candidate has a nicely shaped lip, flat flowers; size is larger that all previous awards. I would consider flower award and I would be in 82-83 AM range.

Too bad we missed judging if this beautifully presented plant this year!

The exhibitor did a good job!

All the best,

Elena

Mary Ann Denver

Cattleya sincorana

The arrangement here is lovely, each of the flowers can be individually appreciated the plant is clean and very well grown

Flower color is very nice - the soft lavender color of the flowers accented with the deeper lavender blush on the sepals and petals is very pleasing,

the lip has a nice tubular shape and a pretty ruffled margin highlighted by a deep purple overlay on the distal half

The flower size on this candidate is larger than most of the previous awards, flower count seems to be a bit above average

The few negatives for me would be the reflexing of the sepals and petals (especially the dorsals) and the slight crimping on the margins of the petals

I scored this an AM of 80 points

Sergey Skoropad

My comments:

When I saw pictures of this cattleya sincorana first time, my first impression was WOW!

Flowers are beautifully arranged, plant is clean. Size of the flowers – one of the largest recorded in OrchidPro. Color is very nice, lip is attractive.

Reflexing of the sepals and petals more visible than on awarded flowers, especially on clones ‘Big Ben’, ‘Harald’ and ‘Falstaff’. Most of the images in OrchidPro are flat and doesn’t show flowers from different angles (like we can see on our candidate). I checked Instagram from Gold County Orchids (Alan Koch) and found same awarded clone ‘Big Ben’ AM/AOS blooming now with 6 flowers on 2 inflorescences. Flowers have similarly reflexing and I believe this is a nature of this type of flowers.

I would nominate this cattleya sincorana for flower award and will score 82-84 pts.

For cultural award plant is not ready yet, need to produce more than 10 flowers.

Sergey

Non-Judges’ Comments

David Rosenfeld

Hi Sergey,

This is a superior form for this species. Beautifully displayed and grown. Color of the sepal and petals is striking with almost a flare like appearance in the petals. Love the dark lip with contrasting white of the interior portion. Size is comparable to the largest awarded ones except 1 with 13 cm NS. I would nominate and suggest at least a medium AM.

David

Exhibitor - Bayard Saraduke, NJ