The Orchid Source - Orchid Forum

Another disappointing issue! Needs some better proofreading too. Some intergeneric Catasetum-type hybrid is listed as HCC/AOS in one location and AM/AOS in another. The Chadwick article is full of the unaccepted PC generic and intergeneric names while anyone who reads the advertisements, will see the real names and the only names that orchid buyers are really interested in. Oh, I forgot! The AOS pays scant attention to the orchid industry. Some good news however. The terribly poor editor of the Pommie Orchid Review is gone. What is not said is that the magazine went from monthly to quarterly during her tenure. Now it will supposedly be produced by the staff of the RHS. Yes, the lunatics have taken over the asylum! Look for the OR to fade into oblivion over the next few years.

But right in keeping with the AOS position at the rearguard of the orchid world, I see the invited keynote speaker for the Oklahoma Members'Meeting is that felicitous freeloader, Joyce Stewart, who never misses any freebie trip in her multiple roles in Pommieland, the WOC Trust and for any other travel opportunity that she doesn't have to personally pay for. It is no wonder why the orchid scene declines by the day. The membership sees these sorts of people for what they are and decide to go there own way and save their money for plant purchases.

Andy, I'll have to disagree with you on this. I loved the semi-alba article by Chadwick which is much more easy to read than previous ones on the Cattleya alliance.
Also, the article on the culture of Phragmipediums ( Part III of a series of Phrag Articles ) by Jerry Lee Fischer was incredibly informative. I am reading it slowly so it will last. Still have more articles to read.
On this age of computers and ipods it is nice to have a beautiful magazine you can take to bed and read at your leisure.

Irma,

You are welcome to disagree! The pictures are great but with all the silly names it becomes so much less informative. and it is telling that the hybrids are all old. Where are exciting new semi-alba lines?

Thank you for another pessimistic essay from the dark side. Are you so stupid that you can't keep up with current taxonomic nomenclature? Once again you imply to the novice that AOS names orchids and is doing so to confuse the issue. Taxonomy is a science as you well know. AOS has nothing whatsoever to do with it and it would be idiotic of them to close their collective mind and freeze the names of plants as science progresses.If you had your way, Paphs and Phrags would still be Cypripediums.

"Chicken Little" is apparently your biography. Whatever is your motive in this continual bashing?

Haven't got mine yet.Keep up the good work though.I like reading these.

I just received mine at about 5:30 PM. We had an awful (for this area) snow storm last night and my street was blocked with downed trees. Anyway, I would have loved to have been able to sit by the fire and read about orchids on a February day. Didn't happen. And when I scanned through, I saw Valentines specials I could not have ordered if I wanted to, today being Feb. 13th. Why do we have to wait a half a month to get a publication out that is almost expired by the time it arrives? Why can't they plan a little better?

I think in all the yrs I have been a member of the AOS,and have been getting Orchids.I have yet to get one anywhere near the beginning of the month.I just thought it was the area I lived in,so I learned to live with it.Glad to see its not just me.

I think it has a lot to do with deadlines. As with most publications, I suspect it has to do with content providers - both advertisers and authors - not meeting deadlines. I know that the editor and advertising manager both bend over backwards to help move things along, but there is always someone who isn't ready on time.

This is something I have always wondered....if the magazine cannot be received in the first days of the month, then, why the Specials are not published on the previous month to the supposed Holiday so people can order in time for it? I think it is not being fair to the advertisers.
BTW, I pay First Class Mail, so I receive mine in time.

Ah the Troll reappears! I had rather hoped it had frozen under the bridge by now.

Far smarter people than me disagree with the taxonomic nonsense espoused by the AOS, in full support of the RHS taxidiots. So much for falling back on science. If "engineer" actually had any real orchid knowledge it would know that the AOS is marching in lockstep with the Poms in destroying the orchid hybrid list. Never thought I would ever say it, but thank God for the Australians and the AOR who refuse to follow the current claptrap. Oh, by the way, their membership is increasing rather than free-falling.

One AOS insider, upon seeing the proposed slate of officers for the Spring Members'Meetings came up with a wonderful response: "Recycled ineffectiveness"!! I could not have said it better. Happy Valentine's Day.

The problem with using all new names in the magazine is that the new names are out of sync with the vast majority of the orchid literature. So unless you have access to the latest information in taxonomy the new names seem to have sprung out from nowhere and feature puzzling and confounding combinations. I wonder if this will lead to people using the new names or, as it seems to me at least, to people treating the new names as a faddish frippery and keep refering to the plants with their old familiar names.

I will not change my labels, absolutely not. If any of my Catts is awarded the new name will go on the awards Form, but not in my labels, sorry.
Some of these new names sound like illnesses.

Ricardo and Irma,

Why does all the common sense seem to be located in PR?? You both are correct and only the woofter set is changing their labels.

Honestly.Who wants to go through all of the hassle of changing labels?

Perhaps if you have access to the latest in taxonomy and only mingle with the ones that are very alert to the latest taxonomic burp, it would make some sort of faint sense. But if you have to communicate with the rest of the orchid world, using the new taxonomic fashion "du jour" will only confound and confuse the people you are addressing. So for sake of clarity and understandability I keep to the old names.

....taxonomic burp!!!! LOL.......that's a good descriptive term for it.

I'm with Irma regarding the third installment of the Phrag series by Jerry Fischer. It was well written, informative and helpful for those of us that grow such plants. Phrags are grown by a sizeable group of slipper orchid lovers, and the hybridization of this genus has absolutely exploded over the last 15 years!

The Cattleya alliance taxonomy and registration snafu is beyond comment, and most of us seem to be ignoring it entirely except if we have to register a cross or get an award.