Vanda 'Miss Joaquim'

Vanda 'Miss Joaquim'
Genus Papilionanthe
Hybrid parentage Vanda teres (Papilionanthe teres) × Vanda hookeriana (Papilionanthe hookeriana)
Cultivar 'Miss Joaquim'

Vanda 'Miss Joaquim' (Chinese: 卓锦万代兰/卓錦萬代蘭), also known as the Singapore Orchid and the Princess Aloha Orchid is a hybrid orchid cultivar that is Singapore's national flower. For its resilence and year round blooming quality, it was chosen on 15 April 1981 to represent Singapore's uniqueness and hybrid culture. Botanically, this plant has been transferred to the genus Papilionanthe.[1]

History

Agnes Joaquim bred this orchid which carries her name. It was recognised as a hybrid not only by orchid expert Henry Ridley in 1893 and again in 1896, but by other contemporary orchid growers as well as orchid journals including the Orchid Review. Sander’s Complete List of Orchid Hybrids, which distinguished between natural and artificial hybrids, listed Vanda 'Miss Joaquim' as an artificial hybrid. Vanda 'Miss Joaquim' is a cross between the Burmese Vanda teres (now called Papilionanthe teres) and the Malayan Vanda hookeriana (now called Papilionanthe hookeriana). It was not known which of the two species produced the seeds and which one provided the pollen. The hybrid was shown to Henry Ridley, the director of the Singapore Botanic Gardens. Ridley examined it, had it sketched and sent a description to the Gardeners' Chronicle writing that: 'A few years ago Miss Joaquim, a lady residing in Singapore, well known for her success as a horticulturist, succeeded in crossing Vanda hookeriana Rchb. f., and V. teres, two plants cultivated in almost every garden in Singapore.'[2]

DNA sequences from maternally inherited chloroplast DNA have been used to determine that the pod parent was P. teres var. andersonii and, by exclusion, the pollen parent is P. hookeriana.[1]

Features

It is a free flowering[3] plant and each inflorescence can bear up to 12 buds, and usually 4 flower blossom at a time. Each flower measures 5 cm across and 6 cm tall. The petals are twisted such that the back surface faces the front like its parents. The two petals on the top and the top sepal are rosy-violet, while the 2 lateral sepals on the lower half are pale mauve. The large and board lip of the orchid which looks like a fan is colored violet-rose, and merges into a contrasting fiery orange that are finely spotted with dark purple center. Vanda 'Miss Joaquim' is a robust sun loving plant that requires heavy fertilizing, vertical support to enable it to grow straight and tall along with free air movement and high humidity. It starts blossoming after its stem rises 40 to 50 cm[4] above the support.

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Khew, G.S.-W.; Chia, T.F. (2011). "Parentage determination of Vanda Miss Joaquim (Orchidaceae) through two chloroplast genes rbcL and matK". AoB Plants 2011.
  2. ↑ Henry Ridley (1893). "New or Noteworthy plants: Vanda Miss Joaquim [inter V. Hookerianam et V. teretem proles hybrida]". Gardeners' Chronicle. 3 13: 740.
  3. ↑ "Vanda Miss Joaquim (Papilionanthe Miss Joaquim)". National Parks, Singapore Government. Retrieved 20 July 2014.
  4. ↑ Singapore Infopedia

External links