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Papilionanthe Miss Joaquim
Genus	Papilionanthe
Hybrid parentage	Papilionanthe teres (Vanda teres) × Papilionanthe hookeriana (Vanda hookeriana)
Grex	Miss Joaquim
Origin	Singapore

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Papilionanthe Miss Joaquim, also known as the Singapore orchid, the Princess Aloha orchid, and commonly known by its original name Vanda Miss Joaquim, is a hybrid orchid (a grex) that is the national flower of Singapore. For its resilience and year-round blooming quality, it was chosen on 15 April 1981 to represent Singapore's uniqueness and hybrid culture. This orchid is the first registered plant hybrid from Singapore.

History

In the June 1893 Gardeners' Chronicle, then scientific director of the Singapore Botanic Garden Henry Nicholas Ridley announced that a few years prior, Ashkhen Hovakimian (Agnes Joaquim), "...a lady residing in Singapore, well known for her success as a horticulturist, succeeded in crossing Vanda hookeriana Rchb. f., and V. teres, two plants cultivated in almost every garden in Singapore." A decorated horticulturalist from a family with a strong interest in plants, Joaquim won about 70 awards "...for cultivating varied specimens such as radishes, custard apples, dahlias and begonias in Singapore between 1881 and 1899," and Vanda Miss Joaquim would win first prize for the rarest orchid in a reportedly crowded field at Singapore's 1899 Flower Show. Miss Agnes Joaquim did not exhibit VMJ until long after it came into being and the award was for the rarest (only rarest, nothing else) orchid. The great majority of orchid scientists and experts do not accept the theory strongly favored by a someone who is not an orchid expert that Miss Agnes Joaquim intentionally made the cross which produced VMJ. The orchid experts accept a report by Miss Joaquim's nephew that she found the plant in a clump of bamboo. This nephew was present when in happened (for a detailed accound see Arditti and Hew, 2007 which contains full details an many citations.

Joaquim was likely encouraged to take the orchid to Ridley by her younger brother Joseph P. Joaquim, "a prominent lawyer, horticulturist and member of the Botanic Gardens Committee", and she or possibly her brother showed the plant to Ridley in early 1893. A specimen sheet from the Gardens recording the artificial hybrid is dated April 1893.

On 15 April 1981, Singapore Minister for Culture S. Dhanabalan proclaimed the species to be Singapore's national flower.

In 2016, the National Parks Board and National Heritage Board of Singapore officially acknowledged Joaquim created the orchid after an NHB "review of all historical source materials" rejected persistent claims that the plant actually came about as a natural hybrid.

The scientific name as of 2019 is Papilionanthe Miss Joaquim, as both parent species are now placed in the genus Papilionanthe.

Features

Vanda Miss Joaquim is a cross between the Burmese Vanda teres (now called Papilionanthe teres) and the Malayan Vanda hookeriana (now called Papilionanthe hookeriana). Though in the original crossing no record was kept of which of the two species originally produced the seeds and which one provided the pollen, DNA sequences from maternally inherited chloroplast DNA have been used to determine that the pod parent was P. teres var. andersonii and, by exclusion, the pollen parent is P. hookeriana.

It is a free-flowering plant and each inflorescence can bear up to 12 buds, and usually 4 flower blossom at a time. Each flower measures 5 cm across and 6 cm tall. The petals are twisted such that the back surface faces the front like its parents. The two petals on the top and the top sepal are rosy-violet, while the 2 lateral sepals on the lower half are pale mauve. The large and board lip of the orchid which looks like a fan is colored violet-rose, and merges into a contrasting fiery orange that are finely spotted with dark purple center.

Papilionanthe 'Miss Joaquim' is a robust sun loving plant that requires heavy fertilizing, vertical support to enable it to grow straight and tall along with free air movement and high humidity. It starts blossoming after its stem rises 40 to 50 cm above the support.

References

1. Singapore, National Library Board. "Vanda Miss Joaquim". www.nlb.gov.sg. Retrieved 28 August 2024.
2. "NParks | Papilionanthe Miss Joaquim". www.nparks.gov.sg. Retrieved 28 August 2024.
3. "Vanda Miss Joaquim - Our National Flower". National Parks Board. 16 November 2019.
4. Henry Ridley (1893). "New or Noteworthy plants: Vanda Miss Joaquim [inter V. Hookerianam et V. teretem proles hybrida]". Gardeners' Chronicle. 3. 13: 740.
5. "The Vanda Miss Joaquim Orchid". Amassia Publishing. Archived from the original on 7 July 2017. Retrieved 14 June 2015.
6. ^ Zaccheus, Melody (7 September 2016). "Vanda Miss Joaquim's namesake gets official credit as creator | The Straits Times". www.straitstimes.com. Retrieved 31 January 2023.
7. "The Flower Show". The Straits Times. 12 April 1899. Retrieved 28 August 2024.
8. Avagyan, Sona (6 December 2010). "Nadia Wright: "Making Sense of Historical Mysteries is Fascinating"". Hetq.am. Retrieved 28 August 2024.
9. ^ Wright, Nadia; Locke, Linda; Johnson, Harold. "Blooming Lies: The Vanda Miss Joaquim Story". biblioasia.nlb.gov.sg. Retrieved 28 August 2024.
10. Singapore, National Library Board. "Vanda Miss Joaquim". www.nlb.gov.sg. Retrieved 28 August 2024.
11. Hew, C.S.; Yam, T.W.; Arditti, J. (2002). Biology of Vanda Miss Joaquim. Singapore University Press. p. 35. ISBN 9789971692513.
12. RHS - Orchid details: Papilionanthe Miss Joaquim http://apps.rhs.org.uk/horticulturaldatabase/orchidregister/orchiddetails.asp?ID=70997
13. Khew, G.S.-W.; Chia, T.F. (2011). "Parentage determination of Vanda Miss Joaquim (Orchidaceae) through two chloroplast genes rbcL and matK". AoB Plants. 2011: plr018. doi:10.1093/aobpla/plr018. PMC 3156982. PMID 22476488.
14. Vanda Miss Joaquim Characteristics Flower Chimp Singapore
15. Singapore Infopedia Archived 26 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine

Works cited

• Arditti, J., and C. S. Hew. 2007. The origin of Vanda Miss Jaoquim. Pages 261–309 in K. M. Cameron, J. Arditti and T. Kull (eds.), Orchid Biology, Reviews and Perspectives, Vol. IX, The New York Botanical Garden Press, New York.
• Johnson H. and N. Wright, 2008 Vanda Miss Joaquim: Singapore's National Flower and the Legacy of Agnes and Ridley, Suntree Media Pte Ltd, Singapore. ISBN 978-981-08-0333-9
• Teoh, E.S. (2005). Orchids of Asia. Times Editions- Marshall Cavendish. ISBN 9789812610157.
• Wright N. H. 2000. The Origins of Vanda Miss Joaquim. Malayan Orchid Review 34; 70–73.
• Wright N. H. 2003 Respected Citizens: the History of Armenians in Singapore and Malaysia, Amassia Publishing, Middle Park, Australia.
• Wright N. H. 2004. After a re-examination of the origins of Vanda Miss Joaquim. Orchid Review 112: 292–2988.
• Yam, T. W. 1999. A possible solution to the parentage riddle

External links

• Resources in your library
• Resources in other libraries

• National Parks Board
• National Library Board

• Papilionanthe
• Orchid cultivars
• Interspecific orchid hybrids
• Orchids of Singapore
• National symbols of Singapore