C.Nitsi crosses are seen more and more on shows and in greenhouses all over the country.It is because of the interest in
these charming plants that this article resulted.
Let's go back in time a little.... to be precise , the year 1973.
Nitsi was helping her father, Roelie van Rooyen, in his small greenhouse in the bottom of the garden in Pretoria. Since she was
a little girl she had always shown a keen interest in plants. Being in matric at that time, she found it fascinating to watch
her father make an orchid cross - It seemed so simple to remove the anther cap, collect some pollen and place it onto another
suitable parent . Nature was left to do all the intricate cell division, multiplying and creating of a batch of brand new
plants.
She wanted to have a go at it herself, and after much deliberation, decided to cross the two smallest Cattleyas flowering at
that time : C. Luteriana and C. Chicita.
The following year Nitsi decided to study Botany at Tukkies.The seedpod of the cross she had made had matured and (with a little
help of her friends and some agar-banana medium ) it was sown at the University of Pretoria Botany Lab.She was very excited when,
at long last, she could bring a handful of baby plants back to her father, who had by then moved down to White River.
Another two years of anticipation resulted and what a wonderful surprise when the first little charmer flowered.It was a perfect
cluster - type mini cattleya, with pale mauve flowers and a gorgeous lip.
Roelie decided it would be a good idea to register his daughter's first cross (C. Luteriana x C.Chicita)as C. Nitsi (1984)
Once in a while it happens that a cross comes out a winner. C.Nitsi is one of those lucky crosses. Not only is the quality of
the flowers good, but as a parent, C.Nitsi imparts many desireable attributes to its progeny.
Some of C. Nitsi's positive points:
* easy, fast grower - not prone to disease
* divides and repots without problems
* compact growth habit
* floriferous
* fertile
* a well balanced, full flower with a beautiful open lip.
There are only a few clones of C. Nitsi in cultivation,
* C. Nitsi cv. Witrivier
* C. Nitsi cv. Baby Doll
* C. Nitsi cv. Angie
* C. Nitsi cv. no.4
The cultivar Baby Doll was mostly used in hybridising.
C. Nitsi crosses that have flowered ( up to July 1994)
(All crosses made by Roelie van Rooyen at Van Rooyen Orchids,
White River. )
C. Nitsi x Lc. Trick or Treat cv.Orange Beauty HCC/AOS 1982
x Lc. Chicanery 1988
x C. amethystoglossa cv. Orchidglade AM/AOS 1984
x Lc. Hillary's Hope 1984
x C. Interglossa 1983
x L. jongheana 1985
x Sc. Beaufort 1987
x L. lundii 1988
x L. purpurata 'carnea' 1983
x Enc. baculus (syn. Enc. pentotes) 1985
x C.Interglossa) x Sl.Isabella Stone 1988
x C. loddigesii (syn.harrisoniae) 1988
x C.
schilleriana 1994
x Lc Cherry
Song 1995
x L anceps
(1999)
Lc. Tricksi
(C. Nitsi x Lc. Trick or Treat cv. Orange Beauty HCC/AOS)
Lc. Tricksi is the first Nitsi cross (made in 1982) and still one of the most successful. A rainbow of colours emerged, from white
to blush, yellow, apricot, pink, light orange, bright orange and even a few flares. The combination with the orange of Lc.Trick
or Treat (a large plant that bears clusters of bright orange flowers) and the pale mauve of C. Nitsi, gave the broad spectrum
of colour in the progeny . (This is also noticeable in the crosses made with Sc. Beaufort and Lc. Chicanery ). The plant size of
Lc. Trick or Treat was reduced and floriferousness of C.Nitsi increased.
Group
of Lc Tricksi seedlings
Lc. Can-can
(C. Nitsi x Lc. Chicanery)
Lc. Can-can produced a better flower shape than Lc.Tricksi, and the same wonderful variety of all the colours in the rainbow. The
plants tend to be more miniature than Lc. Tricksi. In the latest Award Quarterlies it can be seen that Lc. Chicanery is now frequently being used as a parent in miniature Cattleya breeding in
America.
At the recent SA National Orchid Show in Belville a beautiful mauve Lc. Can-can was voted the best bred and raised South African hybrid on show. (Frans Tooley of Pietermaritzburg is the
proud owner of this plant.)
C. Nitsi x C. amethystoglossa cv.Orchidglade
AM/AOS
Using C. amethystoglossa as a parent resulted in the improvement of flower size,as well as the occurence of some beautiful spots
and,in some cases, even fine bars on the petals and sepals.The plant size was reduced dramatically due to the influence of C.
Nitsi. Most of the flowers are light to dark purple, the lip shape of C. amethystoglossa was improved and the lovely dark
splash of colour on the lip was retained - all in all an enchanting outcome.
C. Nitsi x Lc. Hillary's Hope
Lc. Hillary's Hope is also a miniature cluster-type cattleya, with a rather tall plant and a good inflorescence length. The
shape of the flowers are open, but the mauve colour and interesting lip is very attractive.In this cross C. Nitsi was not
always successful in improving the shape of Lc. Hillary's Hope and a lot of the colour was washed out.There are however some
charming plants with a beautiful combination of the lip of both parents.
C. Nitsi x L. jongheana
This is really the most interesting of all the C. Nitsi crosses that have flowered to date. The fascinating flatness of L.jongheana is very prominent and the C.Nitsi improved the shape all
over. One can almost say that it looks like a 'veredelde' L. jongheana.
C. Nitsi x Sc. Beaufort
This is one of the most succesful of all the Nitsi crosses, with an overall good flower quality. Both parents have a small compact
growth habit and very good flower shape. Sc. Beaufort regularly breaks out into multiple leads and C. Nitsi aids floriferousness- These qualities can attribvute to wonderful specimen plants.
Colour vary immensely ; from white, pale yellow, cream, orange, pink through to red. (This actually happened every time C. Nitsi
was crossed onto a red/orange)
C. Nitsi x L. lundii
The tiny little L.lundii has made a lovely match with C. Nitsi. The shape of the L lundii is very dominant, but the plants are
stronger and the flowers much bigger with all the lovely frills and trims of the L. lundii lip still there.
C. Nitsi x L. purpurata 'carnea '
What a delightful surprise - A wide variety of colour and flower shape emerged.The Laelia purpurata was very dominant in producing
bigger flowers and plants, but C. Nitsi endowed a definite improvement of flower shape, espescially in the lip. A bonus is the
wonderful fragrance that these flowers have. They vary from white to mauve and, in most cases, have an attractive dark purple lip.
C.
Nitsi x L purpurata 'carnea'
C. Nitsi x Enc. baculus
So far, only a few have flowered bearing clusters of two or more smaller cream (in some cases mauvish) flowers on a short stem.
Most of the flowers have turned and don't flower 'back-to-back' as Enc. baculus does.The striking radiating lines from the lip of
Enc. baculus have come through strongly and the flower size has improved.
C. Nitsi x C. harrisoniae
(syn.loddigesii)
Studying the breeding chart of C. Nitsi, it can be seen that C.loddigesii is the species most used in creating C. Nitsi.It is
also quite similar in shape and growth habit. C.loddigesii was crossed back onto C. Nitsi to try and improve the shape of C.
loddigesii and the amount of flowers. Only a few of these seedlings have flowered , and the result is beautiful.
C.
Nitsi x C. harrisoniaei
C. Nitsi x C. Interglossa
C. Interglossa is a primary hybrid between C. amethystoglossa and C. intermedia 'aquiniae'.It is an interesting combination of the
two parents .The spots (from C. amethystoglossa) and flares (from the splash petals of C. intermedia 'aquiniae') were retained in
most of the offspring when crossed with C. Nitsi. In some cases, however, the colour markings were not clearly defined and gave a
smudgy effect.
(C.Nitsi x C. Interglossa) x Lc. Isabella Stone
The intense magenta colour of Lc.Isabella Stone has been transmitted to the progeny although the flower shape is sometimes
disappointing.
Some breeders have suggested that the pod parent is dominant in transmitting growth habit. Trying to prove whether this statement
is myth or fact,a few informal experiments were done with some of the C. Nitsi crosses.
No distinct differences could be noticed when using C. Nitsi as the pod and pollen parent in the same cross.(The size of the
plants of these crosses is important as one of the aims in using C. Nitsi as a breeding parent, is to reduce the height of
the plant and transfer a more compact growth habit.)
We can only speculate about the future, but I would like to suggest a few possibilities:
Slc.Little Nitsi - C. Nitsi x Slc. Little Hazel (to combine the same growth habit and flower shape but introduce the dark red
colour)
Lc. Nitsi's Gem or Lc. Nitsi's Gold -C. Nitsi x (Lc.Gold Digger x Lc.Orange Gem)
Again miniature growth habit and flower size is combined, but in this instance using a
beautiful burnt orange.
Epc. Vitellitsi or Epc. Nina - C. Nitsi x Enc vitellina
Lc. Can-ski or Lc. Ski-can - Lc.Can-can x Lc. Tricksi
Crossing two of the most succesful of C. Nitsi's children with one another, expecting more flowers, more rainbows, more champions.
Lc. Nitsi's Trick - Crossing Lc. Nitsi back onto the succesful Tricksi
My opinion is that C. Nitsi has proven itself as an excellent breeding parent and that this is only the beginning of the Nitsi
story. With miniature plants, and especially miniature Cats, becoming so popular, the next chapter of C.Nitsi breeding is
definitely an event the Orchid World is looking forward to.
And Nitsi herself? Well, she is now Nitsi Louw, mother of Angie, Frans and Philip, and she has an orchid house in the bottom of
her garden .....................................
C.
Nitsi x Beaufort
