Saturday August 16, 2008
Orchid named after Jeanne
KUALA LUMPUR: Horticulture researchers from a local institute have created a new orchid hybrid after 14 years of tests and experiments.
The new orchid is a crossbreed of a new species that has not been officially registered with the global orchid registration authority and another known orchid.
The new orchid, with pale yellowish-greenish flowers that slowly turn yellowish-white, was officially named the Dendrobium Datin Seri Jeanne in honour of the Prime Minister’s wife Datin Seri Jeanne Abdullah, who visited the Malaysia Agriculture and Agrotourism Exhibition (Maha) 2008 in Serdang yesterday.
Jeanne said she was honoured to have the orchid named after her and encouraged Malaysians to plant the colourful flowers in their homes.
Full bloom: Jeanne looking at the orchid plant named after her at the exhibition in Serdang yesterday. With her are Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Minister Datuk Mustapa Mohamed (centre) and Mardi director-general Datuk Dr Abd Shukor Abd Rahman. Malaysian Agriculture Research and Development Institute (Mardi) deputy director and senior principal research officer Fadelah Abdul Aziz said the new orchid plant was a crossbreed of parent orchids Dendrobium Walter Oumae and another hybrid species, a crossbreed of the Dendrobium Sue Ching and Dendrobium Kamala.
“We checked and found that the Sue Ching/Kamala type was a breed that had yet to be registered with the International Registration Authority for Orchid Hybrids in England, the global authority for orchid discovery and research.
“We registered the new hybrid as Dendrobium Maharia and later renamed it as Dendrobium Datin Seri Jeanne in honour of our Prime Minister’s wife as we found out she liked pastel colours.
“This hybrid is free-flowering and is suitable for the cut flower orchid industry with great export potential, especially to Japan where the buyers prefer pastel colours,” she said.
Fadelah said Malaysia exported RM13.4mil worth of orchids, mostly to Singapore (80%), followed by Japan and Europe (10% each).
She said the orchid would be commercially available by next year.
Mardi had previously produced several hybrid orchids named after Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and the late Datin Seri Endon Mahmood.
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