Phrag Sorcerer's Apprentice x wallisii

[mauraec]

I fell in love with the species (is sorcerer's apprentice a species?) photo on the grower's site, and then she informed me they had a few crosses. I liked the wasillii cross even more! I may still go back and get the species

Hi Ali - No, Phrag. Sorcerer's Apprentice is not a species - it is a hybrid, or grex, name for the cross between 2 species: Phrag. longifolium and Phrag. sargentianum. Thus your plant is a hybrid crossed with a species (Phrag. wallisii is a species), and the resulting cross has been registered (2003) as Phrag. Lucy Robbins, which consists of 3 species: 1/4 longifolium, 1/4 sargentianum, and 1/2 wallisii. So... the phrag you fell in love with even has a pretty name!

It looks very healthy, and the others have already clarified the spike/new growth issue, so that's all good then.

[TwoStems]

Thanks for this! The naming and crosses and everything gets so confusing!! And I've just noticed that once again I've messed up the name of the plant in my thread title...I must be a little dyslexic!

Hi Ali - No, Phrag. Sorcerer's Apprentice is not a species - it is a hybrid, or grex, name for the cross between 2 species: Phrag. longifolium and Phrag. sargentianum. Thus your plant is a hybrid crossed with a species (Phrag. wallisii is a species), and the resulting cross has been registered (2003) as Phrag. Lucy Robbins, which consists of 3 species: 1/4 longifolium, 1/4 sargentianum, and 1/2 wallisii. So... the phrag you fell in love with even has a pretty name!

It looks very healthy, and the others have already clarified the spike/new growth issue, so that's all good then.

[mauraec]

Thanks for this! The naming and crosses and everything gets so confusing!! And I've just noticed that once again I've messed up the name of the plant in my thread title...I must be a little dyslexic!

Don't worry about it, Ali - it's a steep learning curve and I'm only starting to unravel it now - with much help from the OrchidWiz program (makes everything SO much easier). I got a lot of help when I started just 10 months ago or so, so I'm just passing along whatever info I can. Ask anytime - we're all happy to help anyone with a question, or suggestion.