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Orchid breeding
The endlessly fascinating diversity of orchid flowers encouraged people to do with orchids what they had already learned to do with other plants, and with useful plants in particular — namely to breed them in a systematic manner and to preserve shapes and flowers which do not exist in the wild. The first, and easiest, way of achieving this was by selecting from among the plants available those examples which had particularly brilliant flowers, petals showing a particularly marked colour-contrast, flowers or inflorescences with a particularly long stem, or again, plants whose flowers lasted for a long time or plants which showed themselves to be highly resistant to illness and pests. These selected plants were then propagated. The next step was hybridization – the artificial combination of hereditary factors which in the wild belong to separate species. Artificial pollination was carried out in the greenhouse between species which, in their natural state, were cut off from contact with one another by all manner of isolation mechanisms. It was thus possible, working in an environment which only approximated to conditions in the wild, to carry out pollination, and therefore create a hybrid, between an American and an African species (geographical isolation), a rain-forest and a mountain-forest species (ecological isolation), between a species usually pollinated by hummingbirds and one usually pollinated by a butterfly, or between an orchid which blooms in the summer and one which blooms in the winter (isolated by pollination). The results of such hybridisations were often astonishing, for they produced plants with this or that characteristic which was quite outside the realm of anything found in nature. The lure for the orchid breeder was — and still is — to use such hybrids as partners for new crossings, either with natural species or with other hybrids. Over the course of time, and often by means of numerous breeding-steps, more and more successful hybrids were produced which, in terms of their flowers alone, bore only a tenuous similarity to the original species from which they had been derived. Selective breeding thus led to the creation of hybrids whose genetic make-up was drawn from ten or even more natural species. Modern strains have a family tree at which many a mere mortal might go green with envy.

A hundred years ago, the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) of Great Britain opened a register of successful hybridisations. Published at regular intervals, it comprises a list of new strains and the names given by their breeders. Running so far to eight weighty volumes, this register contains the names of no fewer than something in the region of a hundred thousand hybrids. Many thousands of these are worthless from a scientific and breeding point of view, being basically the frivolous products of a purely accidental crossing brought about when two species happen to bloom in the same hothouse at the same time. Selective breeding, by contrast, presupposes amongst many other things a knowledge of the hereditary factors of the potential hybridisation partners, an awareness of the number of associated natural species existing, and an understanding of the natural variability which the characteristic features of these species display. Only on the basis of such knowledge can one decide whether a projected hybridisation is worthwhile and likely of success.

The breeding of orchids for commercial purposes provides much information of which scientists can make good use. Hybridisation will onlywork it there is a sufficient genetic affinity between the two plants to be crossed. Successful attempts at breeding thus permit conclusions to be drawn concerning the relationship between the partners in the crossing. On the one hand, strains have been produced which are derived from the species of three or even five different genera (e.g. Goodaleara = Odontoglossum x Brassia X Cochlioda X Miltonia x Oncidium); on the other, successful crossings have taken place between species which had previously been regarded as belonging to groups extremely distant from one another, and which in theory were impossible to cross (e.g. Lycaste x Cochleanthes = x Cochlecaste).

Hybrids reproduce in highly unpredictable ways, possessing as they do the hereditary features of various species. It therefore sometimes occurs that new characteristics — successfully maintained or else looked for — quickly vanish. For the past few decades, the technique of “meristem culture” has been employed to counteract this tendency. One or more shoot apeces or meristems are removed from a mother plant worthy of preservation and placed in a nutrient to continue growing there. The whole is slowly rotated. If the procedure works — as is by no means always the case — dozens or even thousands of new plants will be produced. This form of propagation is vegetative. The hereditary features are passed on to the new plants entirely unchanged, so the original plant can he reproduced endlessly.

One cannot overstress the importance of orchid breeding. Almost all orchids sold as cut flowers are hybrids. They represent a significant proportion of potted plants sold, and are also much easier to cultivate than the wild specimens from which they are derived. Above and beyond this, they cover in large part the demand for orchids and thus relieve pressure on the increasingly endangered natural species.

Orchid enthusiasts and Orchid societies
Most people’s first encounter with orchids is as consumers. At some point they are given an orchid in the form of a cut flower or a potted plant. And they enjoy the plant until eventually it wilts or else dies as a result of incorrect care. This may happen several times over — and the more it happens, the greater is the danger of being infected by the “orchid virus”. For if you have developed a relationship with orchids, you almost automatically fall prey to the wish to have this wondrous plant around you all the time — that is to say, you wish to start growing it in your own home. It starts off with a couple of plants on the window sill. Then you set up a glass case. Before you know it, you’ve got your own greenhouse. And as you grow more and more plants, your experience grows too, and so do your expectations. A minor interest turns into a major hobby, and finally into a serious occupation. Then you find there are limits to what you can do: you haven’t got the necessary space, you don’t possess the vital techniques. And so you start looking a round for like-minded people. And you find that such people exist, countless numbers of them, in Germany, in Europe, and overseas. They all belong to regional and national orchid societies. The American Orchid Society alone boasts 28,000 members grouped in more than 250 regional associations; the German Orchid Society numbers eight thousand members and nearly 50 regional associations. Members swap notes on plants and on techniques of cultivation, and these circles not infrequently produce experts whose knowledge makes them every bit a match for the “professionals” — the gardeners and scientists. Being in a position to give more attention to individual plants than is the case with professional gardeners, these dedicated amateurs can also experiment more. Time and again they produce significant achievements, these results proving that hitherto untested species can successfully be grown. They also have an excellent record in orchid breeding. The proportion of registered hybrids created by amateur enthusiasts has been on the increase for a long time, and includes some quite spectacular results.

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