Re: [OGD] What's the point ?
There is no admission fee, unlike many other shows. Everyone is welcome. I hope to see you there. -Original Message- From: Peter O'Byrne [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Thursday, March 15, 2007 1:37 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Cc: orchids@orchidguide.com Subject: What's the point ? In his OGD V9 #101 posting, Michael Wright said: "The Jacksonville Orchid Show will be held March 17-18 we will have beautiful displays, 11 major vendors from the southeast and artwork.. There is no admission". Pity about that. I'd have thought people might want to see it. :) Peter O'Byrne ___ the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD) orchids@orchidguide.com http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com
Re: [OGD] Orchids Digest, Vol 9, Issue 101
Quote: >>I have never heard of any authenticated haploid strains of orchids in any >>genus. Can you or anyone else >point me in the direction of some paper or >>publication where they are documented? I don't think that angiosperms can be adult and haploid, unlike bryophytes. However, the original point of the thread was whether a haploid gamete could have its chromosome number doubled to diploid status, but be a fixed homozygous adult. The answer is that it can, and that this is routinely done in agricultural plant breeding. EG :High frequency production of doubled haploid plants of Brassica napus etc Journal Plant Cell Reports Issue Volume 15, Number 9 / May, 1996 Why should anyone want to do this? Because it can fix a desirable genetic situation that would otherwise not breed true, by making the offspring plant homozygous for that gene. That is, heterozygous plants will produce progeny which mix together genes in ways which destroy the desirable configuration that you found in the parent. If the trait you value comes from two genes, then you will need of course a haploid that holds these genes. If they are located on the same chromosome, but on separate members of the pair (one gene on chromosome A, the other on B) then you will not be able to make a haploid that has both. If you are looking at the consequences of many genes, you need a haploid which just happens to have a copy of all of these in it. So this is not a magic wand. I do not know, but I assume that this has not been done in orchids. Excepting perhaps Vanilla, no orchids are used for monotypic features, like oil quality or sugar levels at harvest. Multi feature qualities, such as complex flower colouration - encounters problems, as described above. The economic scale is anyway not there, at least as it is for oilseed rape (canola, as above) and meristem or other clonal propagation does the same job, but without all of the caveats just discussed. >Please consider sharing your findings with all of us on the OGD. A simple >explanation of >the genetic terms used may be helpful. KwikiWiki: Angiosperms - plants that reproduce sexually, with flowers as their genitalia. Chromosome - bundles of genetic material, copied during cell division and "crossed over" - intermingled - during sexual reproduction. (This is called meiosis.) Most organisms with nuclei in their cells, and all plants, have many such pairs of chromosomes in each cell. Bryophytes - plants such as ferns, mosses and liverworts(?) Diploid - the normal state of most organisms. Each cell has two copies of each chromosome, one derived from each parent. (Gender-related chromosomes are slightly different in this respect, that that's irrelevant here.) Haploid - a cell or gamete containing only one set of chromosomes. These are randomly selected from amongst the pairs. If the selection is a part of the sexual process, then the two chromosomes are mixed their genetic material and re-partitioned before this happens. A haploid cell which has been produces in this way is called a 'gamete', an example being pollen. When two gametes fuse, the result achieves diploid status. That is, there are now two pairs of chromosomes in the resulting cell. The cell is not identical to either parent but rather a blend of the two; and each parent has passed down a blend of their mixed diploid status through this process. The mature organism is made from duplicate of this genetic blend, with the DNA in each cell line - epidermal cells, vessels and so forth - modified chemically so as to alter the patterns in which genes are switched on an off, so called 'epigenetic change'. Epigenetics affect whether cloning works perfectly, about which more below. Heterozygous - an organism in which the two copies of its DNA that is held in the twin sets of chromosomes is different. One set came from each parent, which were themselves different. Heterozygous organisms do not breed true, but show "hybrid vigor". Homozygous - an organism in which, by contrast, both sets of chromosomes have identical DNA. (Often used in the sense of 'homozygous for', meaning that the organism has two identical genes or sets of genes 'for' something, although the rest of it is heterozygous and mixed. Homozygous organisms do breed true, but do not show hybrid vigor. Some versions of a particular gene may be suboptimal. In heterozygous organisms, the other copy may well be "better", and mask this weakness. In homozygous organisms, this does not happen. There is a consequence of hybrid vigor. Many species orchids grow slowly when compared to hybrids. This is often because the genetic structure is optimised around managing crises such as droughts, which creates the equivalent of caution. Genetics which throws these limits to the winds can be seen as "better" by a breeder seeking fast growth and perpetual flowering. So the 'cautious' versions of these genes are weeded out, or more commonly masked with a single 'incautious' g
[OGD] Odd Bornean Genera
Hi all, IOSPE is over the 6500 species mark! There are also 641 represented genera. I would like to see the genera expanded and so am asking for photos of any species in the following genera. Please write off list and I will give you the particulars of how to send them in. Please get involved with this gigantic world wide reference project. I have been working on Bornean species and would like to see photos from any of the following genera. Thanks in advance Ascidieria Biermannia Bogoria Chroniochilus Claderia Cordiglottis Didymoplexiella Didymoplexis Entomophobia Geesinkorchis Jejewoodia Kuhlhasseltia Lecanorchis Microtatorchis Myrmechis Nabaluia Neoclemensia Neuwiedia Octarrhena Pachystoma Pantlingia Pennilabium Phreatia Pilophyllum Poaephyllum Podochilus Porphyrodesme Porrorrhachis Pristiglottis Rhomboda Sarcostoma Spongiola Ventricularia Vrydagzynea These are all not represented in the IOSPE so if you have photos of any of the species of these genera please get to me off-list [EMAIL PROTECTED] www.orchidspecies.com Jay Pfahl ___ the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD) orchids@orchidguide.com http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com
[OGD] naming hybrids (Malaysia)
"HYBRIDISATION... it has been a free-for-all when it comes to naming them. Some growers chose to name the new hybrids after their favourite child, the housing estate where the new hybrid was discovered or any name that they fancied. ... naming a new hybrid can be done within a few weeks... click the website of the London-based Royal Horticultural Society, request for the necessary forms and upon completing them, include a bank draft for 7.5 Pounds (or about RM60)... within two weeks, the grower's preferred name would be duly registered... ... "... we urge our society members to include the word Taiping as this is a way of promoting our town abroad," said Neoh [Cheow Chin, Taiping Orchid Society honorary secretary]. ... Neoh said it was also the norm [whose ?]... to name their "creations" after the country's VIPs [or your favourite pet !!!]" article URL : http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2007/3/15/north/17143246&sec=North *** Regards, VB ___ the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD) orchids@orchidguide.com http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com
[OGD] trouble in the valley (Poland)
"economic progress threatens the primeval forest of Poland's Rospuda valley. Local opinion is... divided On one side of the argument there are... orchids; on the other side there are endless heavy lorries and burgeoning economic growth... Europe's new environmental battleground. .. valley in north-east Poland... has been earmarked as the route for a... motorway to the Baltic states. The clash of priorities has... divided public opinion in Poland itself and has now set the country on collision course with the European Union. ... the struggle to save the Rospuda valley is... the first of many conflicts likely to arise between economic development in the new EU member nations of central and eastern Europe, and their wildlife heritage. ... The Rospuda valley... The Rospuda river flows through the ancient Augustow Forest near Poland's border with Lithuania... and the river's course is bracketed by a peat bog which is... rich in... plants... it sits... astride the route for... the so-called Via Baltica expressway from Warsaw to Helsinki, which will pass through the Baltic states. The section of the new road which is intended to be the bypass for the small town of Augustow, where two routes from Warsaw join, is planned to go right through the valley... Environmentalists contend that the road will irreparably damage the valley, and insist an alternative route, further to the west, must be used; the Polish government... to upgrade its transport links with its neighbours as quickly as possible, insists that the Rospuda route is the right one... ... people of Augustow, who are sick of the unending procession of heavy lorries through their town... agree. ... Among a profusion of rare wildflowers, there are 20 orchid species [could you name them ?] in the valley, including the last colony in Poland of the musk orchid Herminium monorchis... The Polish centre-left national daily newspaper, Gazeta Wyborcza, has taken up the cause of saving Rospuda, and has given away green lapel ribbons for supporters to wear. An electronic petition on its website, to shift the road to an alternative route, has attracted 150,000 signatures, and last month, when it was thought the first tree-cutters were about to move in, a group of green activists from all over Poland set up a camp in the snowy forest and climbed into the trees to stop them. ... Two weeks ago last Sunday, several hundred people from Augustow, encouraged by local politicians, came out to confront the greens, shouting: "Ecologists, murderers!". They distributed wooden crosses which they said represented the children knocked down and killed by the heavy lorries passing through the town. A heavy police presence was necessary to stop... clash turning violent. Now the conflict has intensified still further, and moved on to an international level. The European Commission... is taking up the case, and the Polish government is finding that EU membership carries duties as well as benefits. Poland's membership of the European Union... means the government may have to think again about Rospuda... Rospuda is... part of the Augustow primeval forest special protection area (SPA)... if a development is likely to harm a protected site, alternatives have to be explored. Polish environmentalists have complained... that this has not been properly done with Rospuda, nor has it been done in four more SPAs that the Via Baltica is likely to damage. The EU environment commissioner, Stavros Dimas... asked the Polish government to refrain from pushing the road through the valley - or face prosecution in the European Court of Justice... ... a core of activists remains on the site to watch for the approach of bulldozers or... chainsaws." article URL : http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/article2359088.ece *** Regards, VB ___ the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD) orchids@orchidguide.com http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com
[OGD] Arthur Katz / discuss maxillarias / New Jersey (US)
"April 10... Tinton Falls. ... Arthur Katz, will discuss maxillarias." article URL : http://hub.gmnews.com/news/2007/0315/Front_page/054.html *** Regards, VB ___ the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD) orchids@orchidguide.com http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com
[OGD] Montecito, California (US)
"Orchids in Montecito took root at the turn of the century, when... industrialists came to the area... to escape... eastern winters. Many... stayed on... commissioning... horticulturists and landscape architects to design elaborate gardens... with mass plantings of cymbidiums and other unusual species... The first Santa Barbara Orchid Show, organized by the Santa Barbara Horticultural... took place in 1945 at Montecito Grange Hall. ... One of the oldest, largest... prestigious orchid shows in the [US]... Santa Barbara Orchid Estate, the county's oldest orchid nursery." article URL : http://www.montecitojournal.net/archive/13/11/853/ *** Regards, VB ___ the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD) orchids@orchidguide.com http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com
[OGD] Native talk / West Virginia (US)
"Bernie Cyrus... talk about "Native Orchids of West Virginia and Beyond" " article URL : http://www.herald-dispatch.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070315/ENT/703150313 *** Regards, VB ___ the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD) orchids@orchidguide.com http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com
[OGD] Internet Orchid Forums
No recollection of online orchid discussions should neglect to offer acknowledgements and gratitude to Willis Dair, creator of OLD and the godfather of subsequent forums. How quickly we forget! Shouldn't someone have recognized his contributions by registering an orchid in his name? I would do it myself, but I am just a humble hobbyist. For so many of us these groups are the only way to get the unvarnished news of what is really going on in the world of orchid culture/kulture. It gets a little messy at times, but ultimately the truth tends to precipitate out. Thanks Willis! Rick Barry___ the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD) orchids@orchidguide.com http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com
[OGD] Santa Barbara (US)
"Santa Barbara Orchid Estate... Dendrobium speciosum var. hillii 'Santa Barbara' an 8-foot-wide, 800-pound... no fewer than 200 spikes... quarter-size white flowers... with sweet perfume... a $25,000 specimen... the Santa Barbara International Orchid Show... The event is one of the largest of its kind in the [US]... Forty-three percent of all orchid plants and cut flowers in the U.S. hail from the Golden State [California], principally Santa Barbara County... Santa Barbara Orchid Estate... sits on 5 seaside acres... 50-year-old operation... The inventory includes more than 1,000 species... Laelia anceps... cold-tolerant [California cold !] species native to Mexico... Cal-Orchid Owners Lauris and James Rose met while working at the Santa Barbara Orchid Estate and have run their own nursery here for 20 years... Dendrobium kingianum... compact, floriferous and as easy to grow... Neofinetia falcata, a dwarf Japanese species with white coconut-scented flowers, thrives on a windowsill. Masdevallia veitchiana 'Highland' is tricky, Lauris Rose says, but men in particular love its kite-shaped blossoms that glow red. ... Bulbophyllum picturatum, which has parts that twitch just like the flies that pollinate them. (The twitching attracts the pollinators.) "Those are hard," Lauris Rose says. ... Gallup & Stribling Orchids ... one of the largest growers in United States. This 40-year-old company, owned and run by brothers Jim and Rodney Stribling and their children, sits on 48 acres with 1.3 million square feet under glass and 1.4 million plants on any given day. Half a million more are growing from seed or tissue culture in the company's lab. The main crop... are cymbidiums, the easiest of all orchids for home growers in this climate... Kevin Costner stops by regularly to purchase his stems; Arnold Schwarzenegger has been known to order flowers here as well. ... Gallup & Stribling's cymbidiums are cold-grown for plant vigor and longevity in the garden... says John Ernest, the nursery's lab manager... Some people... are born with the orchid gene, and once they get their first plant, "they're done for." ... Orchids Royale ... Owner Jim Burkey... opened his nursery in 1981. Jim's brother Don joined the business a few years later" article URL : http://www.latimes.com/features/printedition/home/la-hm-orchids15mar15,1,2867895,full.story?coll=la-home-printedition&ctrack=1&cset=true Regards, VB ___ the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD) orchids@orchidguide.com http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com
[OGD] Internet Orchid Forums
Rick who says: >No recollection of online orchid discussions should neglect to offer >acknowledgements and gratitude to Willis Dair, creator of OLD and >the godfather of subsequent forums. How quickly we forget! I doubt that any OLD subscriber has forgotten Willis, or is not thankful for the effort he put into OLD. When our OLD posts failed to come to us in the usual Digest, and OLD went SILENT without any explanation from Willis, believe me, many of us tried to find out the reasons. Our private e-mails to Willis went unanswered. I believe Troy Meyers,a close friend of Willis, tried to find out. I never heard that he did. Perhaps Willis just wanted to disappear from the forum scene? If you know the answer, please tell us Rick. peter ___ the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD) orchids@orchidguide.com http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com
[OGD] Hybrid speciation
I ground out a page of turgidity earlier this evening, and found that Nature had an entire review on the subject. Or on something very close to it, which is the question of whether hybridisation followed by allopolyploidy (doubling the dissimilar sets of chromosomes) leads to speciation. It does. I was startled by James Mallet, the author's, estimate that up to 75% of breeding attempts in some animals were inter-specific. I must live a sheltered life. Around a quarter of all plants routinely breed with other species. If the result doubles its chromosomes and survives the act, it becomes a species: Primula kewensis, for example, which did this feat unassisted on the bench in 1909. The 15 March issue is very interesting, as it is dedicated to Linnaeus' memory, and reviews the state of taxonomy. Words are said about orchids: over-split, it is thought, "taxonomic exaggeration", it is said. Darwin criticised species-mongers, who thought that the question of priority was "the greatest curse to natural history." The P. kovachii controversy of 2002 is cited as an example of how alleged knavery is irreversibly awarded with recognition into posterity. I know that this is controversial. I will quote the section verbatim: don't hit me, hit the author. "Orchids have long attracted a plethora of amateurs. In 2002, for instance, Michael Kovach smuggled a ladyslipper orchids from Peru and asked that the taxonomist at the Marie Selby Botanical Gardens in Sarasota, Florida, name it after him. Selby's experts reportedly knew that Eric Christenson, an unaffiliated taxonomist also in Florida, has his own description of the species scheduled for a forthcoming issue of Orchids. Selby rushed a two-page description of Phragmepedium kovachii to print as a supplement to its house journal. Kovach eventually pleaded guilty to illegal possession and trade of an endangered species. Selby was fined for its role in the scandal. None of this matters in the eye of the taxonomic code, which will honour Kovach for ever. " Also in the review, how monocot-dicot dichotomy doesn't work, how the family tree of the flowering plants is being pruned, and under the heading "the species and the specious" whether we should go with phylogenic classification system - the alleged back seat driver of species inflation - or return to the older biological species concept. Phylogenics is estimated to generate half as many species again as the biological concept approach. (Phylogenics relies upon observables: if a group of organisms have an observable by which they differ from another - three hairs instead of two on the labellum - then they counts as separate species. The biological approach relied more upon observer common sense: did it act like a species? Not of course the easiest thing to assert when looking at a squashed specimen half a planet away from its origins.) But enough. __ Oliver Sparrow +44 (0)20 7736 9716 www.chforum.org ___ the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD) orchids@orchidguide.com http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com
Re: [OGD] haploids
>Quote: > > >>I have never heard of any authenticated haploid strains of orchids in >any genus. Can you or anyone else >point me in the direction of some paper >or publication where they are documented? > >I don't think that angiosperms can be adult and haploid, unlike bryophytes. >However, the original point of the thread was whether a haploid gamete >could >have its chromosome number doubled to diploid status, but be a fixed >homozygous adult. The answer is that it can, and that this is routinely >done >in agricultural plant breeding. > Thanks Oliver, you stated much more clearly what I was trying to get at. Now... Is it too insane for me to ask for a dumbed down version as to how one does this? It seems awfully complicated. One would have to isolate the gene/chromosome etc. Or does one just surmise its isolation from the outcome of the cross? K Barrett N Calif, USA _ The average US Credit Score is 675. The cost to see yours: $0 by Experian. http://www.freecreditreport.com/pm/default.aspx?sc=660600&bcd=EMAILFOOTERAVERAGE ___ the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD) orchids@orchidguide.com http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com
[OGD] Odd Bornean Genera
Date: Thu, 15 Mar 2007 07:44:10 -0400 (GMT-04:00) Jay Pfahl wrote : ... .. I have been working on Bornean species and would like to see photos from any of the following genera. Thanks in advance Ascidieria Biermannia Bogoria Chroniochilus Claderia Cordiglottis Didymoplexiella Didymoplexis Entomophobia Geesinkorchis Jejewoodia Kuhlhasseltia Lecanorchis Microtatorchis Myrmechis Nabaluia Neoclemensia Neuwiedia Octarrhena Pachystoma Pantlingia Pennilabium Phreatia Pilophyllum Poaephyllum Podochilus Porphyrodesme Porrorrhachis Pristiglottis Rhomboda Sarcostoma Spongiola Ventricularia Vrydagzynea ... Sorry Jay, I can't help you.. But thanks for listing this array of wonderfull names. I suspect a lot of Dutch colonial history behind them.. Peter Mudde ___ the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD) orchids@orchidguide.com http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com