This week’s Orchid of the Week is… Cym. Pipeta ‘Magenta’
Parentage: This weeks Orchid of the Week is a cross between Cym. floribundum × Cym. Spartan Queen
Registered: 1961
The reason why it’s our Orchid of the Week:
This week’s Orchid of the Week is a really old one, but caught my eye due to the breeding……
Cym. Pipeta was registered in 1961, so it’s now over 60 years old! One of the parents – Cym. Spartan Queen was registered back in 1946 and is one of the parents of Cym. Sensation, responsible for some great red producing progeny over the years. Both Cym. Spartan Queen and Cym. Sensation are plants you should be aware of given their significance to the genera. And Cym. Spartan Queen has been a huge influence here on the colour of this flower.
Cym. floribundum, whilst part of my favourite species topic, isn’t a plant I grow. However it has proven to be a great parent, having produced some very interesting plants, including Cym. Pipeta.
Awarded a Highly Commended Certificate from the American Orchid Society, the lip is certainly one that stops you in your tracks and ‘makes you look’! The dark purple on this flower also makes for a lovely ‘something different’. Obviously the shape isn’t likely to impress the judges on the show bench these days, but I think it’s worthy of a mention!
The images here were sourced from a post on the Cymbidium Society of America‘s Facebook page. Unfortunately I don’t know where to obtain this plant, but someone in the U.S. will possibly know where to source it.
Looking back at the original species ancestors of this plant, using Orchid Roots, Cym. insigne and Cym lowianum are the major other contributors present in the distant background with Cym. floribundum obviously being a 50% contributor.