Coelogyne Intermedia's name is surrounded with controversy and confusion. Dudley Clayton in his book, The Genus Coelogyne, covers many of the arguments over its heritage and summarises by stating that it may prove to be a variation of Coelogyne cristata. But he does allow that it could be a natural hybrid.

Coelogyne Intermedia was officially registered in 1913 by James Cypher & Sons in England. Its parentage is registered as Coelogyne cristata x Coelogyne massengeana (the latter now re-named to Coelogyne tomentosa!).

A popular consensus is that it is a hybrid and that the pollen parent is actually Coelogyne flaccida. This would result in it being the same as the registered Coelogyne Unchained Melody (which is also found as a natural hybrid).

I have made 40 or 50 attempts to recreate this hybrid using Coelogyne cristata and Coelogyne tomentosa. Like all others before me, I have totally failed so far. Any pods that have developed have dropped off after a couple of months - if they were lucky enough to get a start. (Most Coelogyne pods take 10 to 12 months to ripen.)

Whilst many Coelogynes set pods easily, these two are among the more reluctant ones to breed. Because it has caused such a high profile breeding failure in the orchid world it has given Coelogynes a reputation as being difficult to breed (even though there are examples of hybrids occurring in nature!)

Negatives: With the above level of identity doubts, it is easy to imagine the confusion when someone uses Coel Intermedia as a hybrid parent. There are already three registered:

Rating: ♦♦♦♦

Sometimes sold as: Coelogyne Unchained Melody and Coelogyne lactea.

Varieties: None known

Hybrids: registered

• 1. Coelogyne Cosmo-Crista (1996) - Coelogyne Intermedia x Coelogyne cristata
• 2. Coelogyne Memoria Okami (2001) - Coelogyne Shinjuku x Coelogyne Intermedia
• 3. Coelogyne Memoria Sadako (2001) - using Coelogyne speciosa x Coelogyne Intermedia

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