This week’s Orchid of the Week is… Cym. Seductive
Parentage: This week’s Orchid of the Week is a cross between Cym. God Only Knows x Cym. tracyanum
Registered: 2020
The reason why it’s our Orchid of the Week:
Nado Lenkic from Springfield Orchids in Western Australia has produced a really interesting Cym here! Bred from a Primary Hybrid cross of Cym. floribundum and Cym. hookerianum, using Cym. tracyanum to produce a nicely spotted flower in the yellow shades. The lip is attractive too.
I’ve used the above photo from my 2025 flowering in the sunshine to show off the golden shade of the flower. It is almost as impressive to look at out of the sun too.
I doubt we will see Cym. Seductive winning on the show bench. If nothing else, though, it provides a great alternative to the modern tetraploid hybrids for hobbyists.
It is wonderful to see what you can create with just three diploid Cymbidium species plants!
As you might expect, seedling variation in Cym. Seductive produced both Cym, tracyanum and Cym. floribundum shaped flowers as can be seen in the photos here. The below photo from my 2024 flowering of a different seedling shows a flower more influenced by Cym. floribundum. I have both of these seedlings in my collection and my personal preference is the shape displayed in the leading photo above. Another major difference in the seedlings is that the above seedling has arching spikes whereas the below one has cascading spikes.
Both these seedlings are still young, so flower counts were down, just ten flowers on arching spikes for my favourite plant, and six flowers on the cascading spike on the other. Fingers crossed we see some improvement there in coming seasons.
Photo credits for the examples of Cym. God Only Knows go to Andrew H Kim’s Flickr page and the Berwick Orchid Club Facebook page.
Tracing this plant’s original species ancestors using Orchid Roots, Cym. floribundum, Cym. hookerianum and Cym. tracyanum are the major species contributors of this plant!