| brookn,
I'm glad you found the atricle helpful.
Your Phal bellina x self is what we call a "selfing." It is still a Phal bellina. It means that someone had a Phal bellina they thought was really nice so they pollinated it with itself. Why would smeone do this? Well, there are a number of reasons. It could be simply that the breeder didn't have anything else in bloom to cross it with. Or it could be what we call "line breeding." Line breeding is when a breeder tries to improve some characteristic of an orchid species, usually the flower quality.
A natural hybrid is a cross between 2 different species that occurs naturally in the wild. Since your Phal contains only one species and did not occur in the wild, it's not a natural hybrid.
It is not a mericlone (clone) either because it was grown from seed. Mericlones are propigated in the lab using meristem tissue, not seed.
When any plant (species or hybrid) is crossed with another of the same (e.g. 2 different plants of Cattleya walkeriana) or with itself (C. walkeriana x self) the offspring always cary the same name as the parent (in this example all offspring would be called C. walkeriana).
Regarding your Lc Memoria Robert Strait, you are correct, someone made a cross and registered it with the grex "Memoria Robert Strait". A "JC/AOS" means the plant was awarded a Judges Commendation form the American Orchid Society. Judges Commendations are special awards that judges can give for most any reason, unique colour beng one I see fairly often. As I recall from your other thread, your Lc Mem Robert Strait did come with the clonal name (cultivar ephitet) of 'Blue Hawaii.' In 1998 an Lc Mem Robert Strait was given a JC for its blue colour. Your plant is probably a mericlone of that original plant.
Finally, yup, Ctna = Cattleyatonia. Cattleyatonias are hybrids between Cattleyas and Broughtonias. Probably the most famous one is Ctna. Why Not. Great little clusters of fire engine red flowers with bright yellow centers.  |