This week’s Orchid of the Week is… Cym. Cronulla Pearl
Parentage: This week’s Orchid of the Week is a cross between Cym. Justice Pearl x Cym. Cronulla Era
Registered: 2023
The reason why it’s our Orchid of the Week:
Recent breeding for this week’s Orchid Wise Orchid of the Week. And from the stables of Greg Bryant. Greg is a very accomplished breeder here in Australia and has produced many prize winners over his long and distinguished career.
Each year, select Bryants crosses are available from Baritta Orchids in New South Wales.
When I spoke with him last year, Greg stated he chooses his plants carefully for his planned crosses, in order to get the best traits from each plant. And you will see him keep some plants in the line sometimes to achieve this. Looking back in the family tree of Cym. Cronulla Pearl, you will see Cym. Joan’s Era, Cym. Zenera and Cym. Joan’s Charisma on both sides of the tree!
Cym. Cronulla Pearl is a nicely shaped crisp white, which is a hard thing to breed, but Cym. Cronulla Pearl is just that. Crisp! The labellum markings are also very interesting and set this flower off wonderfully. A mid season flowerer on tall upright spikes with 14 plus large sized flowers to a spike is a pretty decent effort! No doubt this one will be popular with the hobbyist and we will see them on the show bench in the near future.
Bryants Orchids have flowered several cultivars of Cym. Cronulla Pearl and a couple more are below, with all images taken from the Bryants Orchids Facebook page:
My personal preference is for the darker coloured labellum’s on a white flower….the darker the better for me!
Looking back at the original species ancestors of this plant, using Orchid Roots, Cym. insigne, Cym. lowianum and Cym. eburneum are the major contributors in the distant background.