I would like to present new candidate - Bulbophyllum (Bulb. Sri Waree x Bulb. beccarii).

Bulbophyllum Sri Waree is a cross between Bulbophyllum Meen Endless Love x Bulbophyllum frostii.

This time judging exercise will be not so simple:

• brand new unregestered hybrid (one of the parents - Bulb. Sri Waree, registered in 2018);

• combined 4 Bulbophyllum species: beccarii, frostii, longissimum and bicolor;

• there’s no AOS awards for this cross.

• there’s no AOS awards for Bulb. Sri Waree too!

• although Bulb. beccarii known for the long time (Rchb.f. 1879) only 7 hybrids has been registered with this species.

So, you can’t just simply compare current candidate to awarded plants!

But you can find in OrchidPro number of AOS awards on these species: Bulb. beccarii received 3 awards; frostii - 8 awards; longissimum - 20 awards, bicolor - 12 awards.

Description:

19 flowers on one inflorescence 7.5 cm long.

8-growth plant, the larger leaf is 9.4 cm x 15.5 cm. The flowers has a slightly awful smell

Flower Measurements:

NS H - 4.2 cm; NS V - 2.5 cm;

Dorsal Sep. W - 0.8 cm; Dorsal Sep. L - 1.8 cm;

Petal W - 0.5 cm; Petals L - 1.2 cm;

Lat/Sepal W - 0.7 cm; Lat/Sepal L - 3.0 cm;

Lip/Pouch W - 0.5 cm; Lip/Pouch L - 1.3 cm.

Judges' Comments

Deborah Bodei (Associate Judge, Northeast Judging Center)

Bulbophyllum (Bulb. Sri Waree x Bulb. beccarii)

Observations

The color combination and markings are nice on this flower. I do like the contrast of the bright yellow on the apex of the hinged lip against the dark raspberry red. The distinct markings on the dorsal sepal and the petals against the base color are very nice along with the reticulation against a lighter base color on the lateral sepals.

Form and arrangement are a struggle for me on this candidate. The flowers are so crowded I can’t be sure if they are fully open or just crowded out by the other blooms. There does look to be one flower that might be less cupped and more fully open than the others. The species beccarii has produced some interesting crosses lately that increases the flower count but still allows the individual flowers to show lovely form and color. Two others that give me a comparison of what I would look for are:

Here is Bulbophyllum Tien Noi Evening Star ‘Julio David’ AM/AOS 82 pts, 2019:

AOS award photo

This is Jason Fischer’s cross Bulb. Bechinolina (beccarii x echinolabium) showing a lot of promise

OrchidWeb photo

I am not convinced from this flowering that the cross is an improvement on the parents. Here is a photo from Meen Nursery of Sri Waree.

Meen Nursery photo

Nominations

An interesting cross and one to watch out for in the future. No nomination on this flowering.

Thank you,

Deb

Kristen Mason (Accredited Judge, Cincinnati Judging Center)

Overall nice display with slight crowding on the inflorescence. Wide segments compared to parents and ancestors giving a full look to the flowers. Flower count is right at the geometric mean for parentage. I love the even picotee and dark red teeth on the petals. Markings are even and prominent. While yellow color is not as deep as I would expect, I like the color combinations. The brighter yellow of the anther cap and tip of the lip adds visual interest and focus. The back of flower is richly colored and marked and is a nice bonus for the flowers and adds to the impact of the inflorescence. I wish the flowers were not as cupped as they are, but given the parentage, it is a nice compromise of the parentage. Overall, I think this is a good combination of the parents in size, form, display and floriferousness. I pointed this flowering at 79, so high HCC.

Al Messina (Accredited Judge, Northeast Judging Center)

While the clumped arrangement is less desirable than the only awarded beccarii cross, Bulb. Tien Noi Evening Star 'Julio David' AM/AOS 82 Points, 2019 June 1,

which is a more aesthetically pleasing umbellate, Sri Waree appears to have significantly, albeit suboptimally, increased the flower count as well as increased the flower size while retaining quite good color and markings. The less desirable clumped arrangement (versus the umbellate) might contribute to the cupped form.

An advantage of growing a beccarii hybrid is illustrated by this plant: beccarii is notoriously difficult (and expensive) to grow to blooming size in temperate climates, requiring conditions (and patience) better suited to the tropics, as anyone who has seen the plant in its native Borneo would attest. This plant is blooming at a very small size relative to its beccarii parent which can extend over four meters spiraling around a tree trunk.

Overall, in my opinion, the plant could qualify for a flower award, mid HCC likely.

Deb Boersma (Student Judge, Great Lakes Judging Center)

Bulbophyllum (Sri Waree x beccarii)

I quite like the colour and patterns on the sepals and petal and the lip has nice saturation of colour. This cross has inherited some nice patterns and color from the Bulbo. beccarii parent. I am not sure if some of the flowers have not fully opened as some appear to have the lateral sepals quite far apart while others have them fully touching and not opened at all, I am not that familiar with Bulbophyllums. The form seems to have some symmetry issues, on some flowers the lip seemed skewed to one side. Although it seems to have inherited some positive traits from the species its’ background I don’t think that I would nominate it for a quality award. I am interested to hear what the more experienced judges have to say.

Bill Thoms (bulbophyllums.com)

Here is my take. Let's set aside the question of parentage, because it might be.......

Sri Waree is Meen Endless Love = (longissimum x bicolor) x frostii. Now the clone (of MEL) I saw at Meen's nursery was this:

Putting frostii on this would reduce the flower count to 3-5. Then using it with beccarii I would expect less flowers, so 19 is about right, but on the high side for a first-blooming.

With that said, the clone we are seeing is fabulous. The 3 open flowers at the top could be any number of things (wet/dry when it first opened, genetic predisposition to split, or humidity variance while opening to name a few). The color saturation is good top to bottom and the presentation is just fine.

It is a wonderful example of the extreme diversity among the Bulb. hybrids. I give it 80 pts and see what comes up next.

Bill

Elena Skoropad (Associate Judge, Northeast Judging Center)

Very pleasing new cross! It needs to be recognized!

One parent Sri Waree is relatively new complex cross registered in 2018 and it has no awards yet. Second parent Bulb. beccarii was awarded CBR in 2003, than in 2021 Frank Smith received CHM and AM. Beccarii is producing many flowers, but small ones. Awarded plant had 132 flowers on one inflorescence. The first parent has larger flowers and I believe it driving flower size, second parent is increasing flower count.

I found candidate plant flowers well proportioned, nicely colored and well presented. I would nominate it for flower quality award and I would be scoring in high HCC or lower AM range.

Please bring it next year; this plant has great potential at will be definitely awarded!

Thank you,

Elena

Joseph Maciaszek (Accredited Judge, Northeast Judging Center)

Bulbophyllum (Sri Waree x beccarii) is an interesting cross between an un-awarded Bulb. Sri Waree and Bulb. beccarii. The plant habitat of the cross comes from the species parent in the cross Bulb. beccarii including the inflorescence habit. Bulb. beccarii has a very flower-dense inflorescence, of 50 to over 100 small flowers. While these flowers lack great form with a lot of recurving of the sepals they have intense maroon markings. Bulb. Sri Waree has no award picture and I can not find any images on google. However, there does seem to be an award to a cross that has overall the same plants in the background as Bulb. Sri Waree. Bulb. Sri Mega has the same three species in it, but Bulb. bicolor is one of the parents (instead of frostii). There is one award to this cross but on progeny yet. The Bulb. Sri Mega might give us a potential look as to what a Bulb. Sri Waree might look like.

The candidate plant has a somewhat crowded inflorescence but the impressive 19 flowers are presenting fairly well. The flowers seem to range from open lateral sepals to joined, presumably having to do with the age of the flowers. The open stance of the flowers, with those dark markings on the sepals and petals with that dark lip, are eye-catching. The candidate plant seems to be a pretty good blending to the two parents, the species Bulb. beccarii gives a good flower count, opens the flower, and intensifying the color. The Sri Waree with its background is increasing the size of the flower and helping the presentation of the sepals and adds interesting marking to the flower.

So overall I like the candidate and believe the plant should be nominated and pointed. Bulb. Tein Noi Evening Star ‘Julio David’ seems to be the only Bulb. beccarii hybrid that is awarded. That plant had 8 flowers on one inflorescence and got an 82 AM. I am seeing it as an 83-85 point award.

Exhibitor - Laura Newton, FL (Accredited Judge, Florida North Central Judging Center)

Virtual Award Description

Nineteen full flowers nicely displayed on one slightly crowded, pendent inflorescence; flowers cream-yellow, evenly marked garnet red; flower reverse darker adding interest; sepals and petals lanceolate, dorsal sepal and petals slightly cupped, with thin garnet red picotee; petals margins ciliate, garnet red; lip oblong, hinged, golden yellow, heavily suffused garnet red; column stippled garnet red, anther cap light golden yellow; substance firm; texture matte satiny, lip matte, fragrance lightly fetid; pedicels spotted garnet red, floral bracts yellow, stippled and dashed garnet red.

Grower's Advice

Not sure where I purchased this from, but am pretty sure that it might have a TOW tag on it, which likely means that the hybridizer is Meen Orchids.

I grow this as I grow 90% of all my Bulbophyllums in the new Fernwood Treefern, in a plastic bulb pan with no peanuts, just straight tree fern. I water almost daily. The nice thing about the tree fern is that it lightens in color as it dries out, so you can tell when it isn’t moist anymore and be sure to water it. My entire greenhouse has bright diffused light. I apply my plant potion #9 to it at least one a month, more often as my time allows. Fertilize monthly with various fertilizers from Bill’s Best, K-Lite fertilizer from First Rays, Peters well-water formula, and usually add some Florida formula Dynamite time release whenever I repot.

Flowers are not very long lasting, they probably were fresh for about a week, and hung on for another week tops.