This week I would like to present Sarcochilus Kulnura Famous (Sarcochilus Kulnura Sanctuary x Sarcochilus Kulnura Coral).

This new cross was originated by Scott Barrie and registered by Barrita Orchids in 2017.

Barrita Orchids (Australia) is the world leader in Sarcochilus breeding.

Previous Awards:

There is no awards for this cross.

There are 3 AOC (Australian) awards for Sarcochilus Kulnura Sanctuary.

There is no awards for Sarcochilus Kulnura Coral.

The latest 4 AOS awards on Sarcochilus granted in April 11, 2021. One of them on peloric flowers.

Description:

The candidate has 43 peloric flowers and 58 buds on 12 inflorescences. Steam is 8 cm to lower ovary. Height is 14 cm above pot.

Flower Measurements:

NS H - 2.2 cm; NS V - 2.6 cm;

Dorsal Sep. W - 1.2 cm; Dorsal Sep. L - 1.2 cm;

Petal W - 0.7 cm; Petals L - 0.8 cm;

Lat/Synsepal W - 1.2 cm; Lat/Synsepal L - 1.3 cm;

Lip/Pouch W - 0.5 cm; Lip/Pouch L - 0.7 cm.

Judges' Comments

Ramon de los Santos (Accredited Judge, California Sierra Nevada Judging Center)

There were two JC awards given to peloric Sarcochilus flowers. One on my plant the other was in Pacific Central. We could give it another JC since it’s just coming into to our attention of this types of flowers in try his genus. From them, like in Phalaenopsis and Cattleyas which exhibits peloria on their flowers if the flowers looks symmetrical and pleasing maybe a scored or quality award.

Carol Beule (Accredited Judge, Pacific South Judging Center)

I did my 2nd AOS Judging presentation on this species with the help of Scott Barrie, David Banks and others who have grown these for years in Australia. Off hand, I have several observations.

1. The flowers are too crowded for a good presentation of these blooms. While this is a species that is a sequential bloomer, and the buds will eventually lengthen out from the rachis, what I see is not a good flower presentation of this species, whether this is a peloric form or not.

2. The sepals are too cupped for a good flower and present notches on most of the growths that I have looked at. They are not uniformly rounded as they should be for an award, as I see too much variability in the shape of these sepals.

3. While the petals would naturally be cupped as they are peloric, I see no existential novelty in this flower as it is. If it actually ever bloomed with yellow petals and white sepals... now THAT would be something to note and would garner something like a JC nomination from me..... only if the sepals were better formed.

For better presentation, I would actually suggest growing this plant in less light to get it to lengthen it's rachis some to better show off the flowers. And to present it to the judges with more flowers in actual bloom. It could be judged in this condition, but I think more time to get a better flower quantity would be better. (I grow these as well.)

I would not vote to judge this plant. Think of it this way, if this plant had normal flowers, would you award the flowers? and why or why not?

Deborah Bodei (Associate Judge, Northeast Judging Center)

Sarcochilus Kulnura Famous (Sarcochilus Kulnura Sanctuary x Sarcochilus Kulnura Coral)

Observations

Before even looking closer at the flowers, the plant is pristine and well-flowered and is presented beautifully. There are more buds than flowers open so I would not consider it for a cultural award, though it promises to make quite a show soon enough.

Very nice form and color on a peloric flower that is consistent on all the inflorescences. The sepals are full flat and round with great coloring and markings in the lip (yellow and orange) repeated on the petals. The flowers are symmetrical and pleasing and I really like the concentric orange-red pattern that seems to continue perfectly aligned from the sepals to the petals near the base of those segments. The pristine white of the sepals is a lovely contrast. Segments are on the smaller size but look quite flat when they fully open.

Since peloric breeding of Sarcochilus is still in infancy, we cannot count on this flower as a stable peloric form just yet. Neither of its parents indicate any peloric forms, but as in the case of Phalaenopsis World Class ‘Big Foot’ it needs to start somewhere. I guess we will have to be patient a little longer.

Nominations

I would have to nominate this plant for a JC based on its good form, color and beautiful markings of the lip repeated in the petals.

Thank you,

Deb

Al Messina (Accredited Judge, Northeast Judging Center)

Forty three "peloric" flowers and 58 buds on 12 inflorescences emanating from a well grown, quite vigorous plant. While the "open" flowers are mostly partially

open, it seems that two diminutive petals are present in each open flower, rendering them bilaterally symmetrical (zygomorphic, as would be seen in normal orchids) and not actinomorphic (radially symmetrical) as would be the attempt of a peloric flower. Therefore, in my opinion, these are not peloric flowers.

The number of adequately open flowers is well below the suggested 40% range, but when adequately opened, this plant should qualify for a cultural award.

The flowers, not so much.

Trevor Yee (Accredited Judge, AOC, Australia)

Scott Barrie is doing an amazing job with his Sarco breeding lines. I've been to his October Sarc Open Day and the kaleidoscope of colours and shapes will stop you in your tracks. He does sell his orchids to retail outlets and sometimes you can pick up a gem.

Peloric sarcs are gaining popularity as they are very different to your standard round shaped flowers. With this candidate, but for the peloric petals, the sepals and dorsal are comparable to a good standard flower that is round and broad. The perolic petals are getting larger and wider with each generation.

I do like the yellow colour of the petals that contrasts well with the other white and red floral segments. However, the petals will need to flatten out to give the flower a nice filled in and round shape. A good advancement in this novelty line of breeding, but based on our current award standards, I'm not recommending a quality award. However, based on the number of spikes and flower count, it may be capable of a cultural award if most flowers are open when assessed.

Deb Boersma (Student Judge, Great Lakes Judging Center)

Sarcochilus Kulnura Famous

A very nice peloric flower, flat dorsal and lateral sepals with great crystalline texture and concentric mahogany barring at the base. The barring really contrasts the white base colour. Petals also have barring of mahogany and mimic the lip, thrust forward, nice colour contrast to the sepals. Looks like a healthy, nicely grown plant. I like the form of the flat, full, round typical Sarcochilus flowers more so than the peloric form with the petals thrust forward.

With no awards to this cross, nor any AOS awards to either parent there is little for comparison purposes. Looking at the averages for 10 AOS awarded Kulnura hybrids, our candidate is less floriferous and smaller in size.

OW does not have a geometric mean for the parents, average natural spread for Kulnura Sanctuary is 2.8 cm. It appears to be smaller overall compared to other non AOS awarded Sarcochilus hybrids

I would not nominate this plant for a quality award but perhaps a JC for its’ peloric form?

Sergey Skoropad (Associate Judge, Northeast Judging Center)

Sarcochilus Kulnura Famous

This’s beautifully grown plant; flowers are nicely displayed on 12 inflorescences.

I don’t think that plant is ready for cultural award yet, however I would like to look at the flowers more carefully.

The flowers have a nice contrast between white base color and red marking.

The flowers on current candidate looks like peloric flowers to me (petals have similar color and shape as a lip, looks like they are mimic the lip).

With over 150 AOS awards on Sarcochilus I found only 2 JC AOS awards granted to peloric flowers in last 10 years.

Compare with to other peloric flowers (awarded JC in April 11, 2021 and August 17, 2019) I found them very similar (especially on red one).

I think these flowers much more rare than normal and should be recognized. I would nominate this plant to JC.

Thanks

Sergey

Elena Skoropad (Associate Judge, Northeast Judging Center)

This is one cool looking sarco!

There is something very attractive in peloric sarcos, but there are no awards for this particular cross. There were only 2 awards for peloric flowers out of more than 150 sarco awards and these are JCs only. No flower quality awards were given for peloric flowers. So taking this into consideration I am not sure what to do with another peloric flower. Apparently only JC should be considered... the flowers are on a smaller size, but they have very attractive markings and pattern. The plant is beautifully grown and has approx 100 flowers/buds on 12 inflorescences in average 10 flowers per inflorescence; but they seem to be a bit crowded, there are no spacing between flowers. I like the stand alone flower but no sure if I like clusters of overlapping flowers, perhaps they are not fully opened yet. I feel like this interesting cross should be recognized and I would be in favor of JC award. The grower did a great job! Kudos to the grower!

Thank you,

Elena

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

Technically this is not a peloric flower, it is not even a semi-peloric flower by taxonomic definition. A peloric flower is a flower where sepals and petals have the same mutation. A semi-peloric is a flower where all the sepals or all the petals have mutated the same. I can only think of one true peloric orchid that I have seen, and that is a Vanda falcata where both sepals and petals where all identical lips. In this case you have 3 normal petals, a sacate lip and two non-sacate lips. We are incorrectly using the term peloric.

Alan Koch

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

Virtual Award Description

Forty-three interesting flowers and fifty-eight buds on twelve evenly presented, arched inflorescences to 14cm, on a 16-cm wide by 22-cm long by 14-cm tall pristine plant, growing in an 8-cm square plastic pot; sepals obovate, white, proximally concentrically barred and suffused deep red-orange; petals mimic lip, porrect, cupped and slightly saccate, yellow-orange, proximally barred deeper red-orange; lip saccate, yellow-orange, barred deeper red-orange proximally; column and anther cap cream; substance firm; texture crystalline; recognized for unique petal shape with clear, brightly contrasted segment markings.

Grower's Advice

I grow my several hundred sarcochilus in the coastal California area in what I consider to be cymbidium conditions. What this means is that there is strong light - as high as 4000 fc or more during the Summer and perhaps half that during the Winter, and there is a significant day/night temperature differential. This means typical Winter temperatures go from mid 30’s to mid 60’s, and Summer temperatures go from mid 50’s to mid 80’s. Lows on occasion can go below freezing, and highs can go over 100.

I use medium to coarse bark (pinus radiata) depending on the plant size. Quite a few plants are in 8 and 10 inch bulb pans, which definitely require the larger bark size. Watering and fertilizing is every 3 days during warm weather, and could be every 10 days or longer during the Winter.

I would not consider this plant anywhere near large enough for cultural award consideration - it would need at least 25 spikes for that. Also, there was the question if this is really peloric or not. In truth, none of the orchids we judge as peloric would meet the botanical definition of pelorism (a mutation resulting in the radial symmetry of all the flower parts), but I would say it meets the typical horticultural definition of the petals taking on some of the traits of the lip.