South Coast Orchid Society

Kay's undated inventory (KF I / A p. 6) shows she had the cultivar 'Oscar Thurnner'. As this hybrid was registered in 1954 by Gilbert Raasch of Pasadena, CA, Kay undoubtedly obtained it from Mrs. Raasch, who supplied her with several other plants. The name "Thurnner" recalls also a problematic cultivar of C. aurantiaca in Kay's collection, the script uncertain, but apparently something like "Thurliner" or "Thurner". A possible solution for the name is a grower from El Monte, CA, Armin Thurnher, who registered Cattleya Eunice de Buhr in 1956, originated by E. C. Wilcox. Further, this is very likely the same Armin Thurnher, a "horticulturalist" who became the first superintendent of Lacy Park in San Marino, CA (General Plan, October 3, 2003, City of San Marino, https://cms9files.revize.com/sanmarinoca/Final%20General%20Plan.pdf). Mr. Thurnher, by then located in El Monte, was also granted a plant patent on September 3, 1968, as asignor to Saratoga Horticultural Foundation, Saratoga, CA, for a "new and distinct variety of Magnolia grandiflora. He was also involved in the development of the Huntington Botanical Gardens.