It might be hard to tell from photos, but in the flesh the plants (and flowers) are unmistakably different types.
Apart from
L. davidii in the background I doubt they share much else. The grandparents of my seedling where
L. davidii and a mixed bunch of copper 1b flowers I scored from a show because of the unusual colouring. I suspect they where someone else's seedlings, so I couldn't rule out that they had Fiesta or Harlequin bloodlines, yet they didn't display any of the typical characteristics of those groups. But who knows?
Anyway, 0618 is a large, angular flower with a flat face and recurved tips, ie. 1c/c. The tepals are very broad toward the base creating the effect of overlapping triangles when viewed from the back. It exhibits raised freckling in complementary colours to the whole flower, and the plant itself is stiff and robust. Pedicels branch upward. The blend of flower colouration is subtle and matt; it doesn't have the reflective harlequin sheen.
The dad is a small round flower that reflexes (ie. 1c/d) and creates the impression of a globe. A very waxy globe! It has very narrow tepals at the base, so that there is no real overlap; there's space between the tepals for almost their whole length. It has proper contrasting dark spots that aren't raised. The plant itself is finer, more willowy. Pedicels slope from the shoulder.
Both lines seem quite tough survivors, heat tolerant, pendant and have the fine foliage typical of L. davidii. Though, the Tas Township line maybe even moreso, because of what I presume is strong
L. cernuum influence in the Harlequin background. (Hence the overall more graceful stature, also?) Flower colouration is superficially similar. That's where the similarities end.
I know from raising a good number of 0618 seedlings that she usually has a strong influence on the flower of her offspring, but coupled with this pollen... poof!!
The seedlings all display the fine willowy form, 1c/d flower form without overlap, dark spotting and small size. The rainbow colour range is typically Harlequin while there's none of the colour pattern I have seen in other 0618 offspring. It's as though she wasn't there
These seedlings were actually from a cross made in 2006, but this is their first flowering (long story), and reiterate the results I got time and time again trying to cross the Tas Township bloodline with my own. Though I don't think I've flowered any backcrosses yet.... (I may have given up in despair!!
)
Anyway, what I wanted was the flower form of the mother with the colour range of the dad's breeding, and plant form somewhere in between as long as the pedicels ascended. I should have been using 0618 as the pollen parent instead... I wonder how much of a difference it would have made?
