South Coast Orchid Society

The hybrid name, an astronomical term, was suggested by Kay's daughter, the astronomer Eleanor 'Glo" Helin, as noted in a 1988 catalog from Stewart's Orchids. The archive includes a letter from Ernest Hetheringon, of Fred A. Stewart Orchids, Inc., December 18, 1972, indicating that several seedlings from the pod of C. Colorama 'The Clown' x C. Horace 'Maxima' have flowered, and that the cross is very good, and inquiring what the name of the hybrid will be. Enclosed also is a note on a small piece of yellow paper (KF I / B / 1 / a): "1335 [this was Stewart's cross number for Prism Palette] / Shapely flower — light rose — petals splashed rose purple with light yellow stripe down median. Lip shaded dark rose. / Fld [=flowered] 10.71 / Sown 8.67". Kay's breeding records (KF I / B / 2 / j) note that she attempted the cross January 9, 1966 to October 17, 1966, and took the seed pod that finally resulted to Paul Jones at Stewart's. The note is somewhat cryptic, but one interpretation is that she took the pod to Stewart's April 8, 1967, so the 8.67 date on the note from Stewart's may not be correct. At least one seedling turned out not to have splash petals; Frank Fordyce acquired this seedling and included it in his nursery plant sales lists.