What's in A Name?

It is not hard to create orchid hybrids, but making some that become famous takes hard work and much luck. The resulting offsprings can be very rewarding, such as mine that keeps giving. This Vanda is not spectacular in terns of long spikes and many perfectly formed flowers, but it is long lasting, blooms twice yearly and has fragrance that is delightful. So what's in an orchid name? This is my V. tesselata x V. Mimi Palmer. V. tesselata is a species, but V. Mimi Palmer is a hybrid that came from V. Tan Chay Yan x V. tesselata. So you can see that V. tesselata has been used a second time when it was crossed with V. Tan Chay Yan. What's that? Tan Chay Yan (1870-1916) was a Malacca rubber planter and grandson of local philanthropist Tan Tock Seng (after whom Tan Tock Seng Hospital in Singapore, is named) The famous and sensational V. Tan Chay Yan was bred by his son Robert Tan Hoon Siang using V. dearei x V. Josephine van Brero and it was registered in 1952. Finally, V. Josephine van Brero, which was famous for producing many award winning offsprings predated V. Tan Chay Yan when it was hybridized using V. insignis x V. teres in 1936 in Java..So, this Vanda of mine descended from royal ancestors! It smells so good! The genes are from V. tesselata, insignis, teres and dearei.