The meaning of Grex

Hello

am feeling thick here, could be it's way past my bedtime, but in the spirit of being new and ignorant, could someone answer my question please?

One of my phals is labelled Smartissimo, and when I looked it up on the internet I found two photos of blooms called Miva Smartissimo which seem rather different. Same basic mauve colour, but one is intensely spotty the other is not.

I then looked it up on the international orchid register, which describes it as a grex.

According to the forum glossary a grex refers to: "All siblings of the same seed cross".

So, my question is, does that mean that all plants names Miva Smartissimo are not in fact clones of each other, but can be as different as me and my sister? Or am I missing some basic but really important distinction?

It was the whole difference in the images that got me to thinking about this... The daft thing was, I only wanted to see what mine would look like as it was in spike but no open blooms, although thankfully two blooms are now open - and yes it does look slightly different to the ones that I have seen on the web.

Ta very muchly
Kerry

I'm by no means an expert but I believe that that is in fact correct. Btw, have you seen this thread http://www.rv-orchidworks.com/orchid...g-dummies.html This is the first explanation of orchid naming I've ever read that actually made sense to me!

Correct, Kerry. They can be a different as you and your sis. Weird, I know. I posted a thread somewhere one here of a couple of cattleyas that bloomed out for me and they were both the 'same', but ones shape and bloom was quite different though the colors were very similar. Piper's thread on Orchid Naming for Dummies really is helpful. Check it out. The link is in Elena's post.

Cheers,
BD

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We could learn a lot from crayons: some are sharp, some are pretty, some are dull, some have weird names, and all are different colors....but they all exist very nicely in the same box. ...Hmmm? .

Hi Kerry,

It's extremly confusing - don't worry about questions on naming and parentage!

Grex is simply the identification of a hybrid's parents. How that plant was produced, will determine whether it was a seedling, clone, or division, but it won't change who the parents were.

I'll keep it that short and simple, even though there are lots of arguing points, because it's a safe place to start!

McSleepy