Habenaria Iberá FCA. History and documentation of the first hybrid of the genus registered for Argentina

Abstract

Orchids are the most numerous flowering plants on our planet and the genus Habenaria, which is one of the most abundant in species, is taxonomically complex and with a pantropical distribution. Locating them in their habitats requires in-depth botanical knowledge and experience to successfully harvest their geophyte or tuberoid corms. Cultivate, hybridize, and reproduce them with biotechnology; requires patience, equipment, and technological expertise. Creating a new orchid hybrid poses challenges in the medium term, no less than five years until it blooms, so choosing the intervening parental species is the most important task in the process. The registration in the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), is the worldwide award that visualizes all the previous work. In this work, we narrate the story of finding the parents, anecdotes, and adventures of the collecting trips with Aurelio Schinini and the record of the first Argentine hybrid of Habenaria Iberá FCA, an orchid of singular lineage.