Stanhopea tigrina and Judging Stanhopeas

Deb Boersma is a retired chemistry professor from St Clair College, Windsor Ontario and an accredited AOS judge who has successfully grown orchids for over 30 years. She has taken a very complex and poorly understood genus, the Stanhopea, and unravelled its complexities in this easy- to- understand presentation. The webinar focuses on judging Stanhopea tigrina and its hybrids, but also provides much general information on this little-known genus and its species. Beginning with a species overview, she describes the taxonomy, geographical distribution and natural habitat of Stanhopea tigrina, clarifies the  unique structural adaptations of the flower segments for pollination success by species- specific euglossine bee pollinators. Guidance is provided on how to measure the unusual floral segments and natural spread, and the photographic requirements to aid AOS judging Having defined the points to consider in judging, the seminar ends with a comparison of Stanhopea tigrina cultivars, its primary and secondary hybrids and the one intergeneric hybrid.