Epiphyllum Hybrids and their Hybridizers

by F. Braun

EPIPHYLLUMS and their hybrids are to the majority of
cacti enthusiasts, poor Cinderellas, relegated to dark
corners of the greenhouse except when the plants bear
their beautiful blooms. The very word hybrid is a name
looked upon with distate by some collectors of our
plants and in fact Epiphyllums are very poorly served
by our journals. This article is intended to redress the
balance.

The first record of hybridizing Epiphyllums was in
1830 in England when Jenkinson and Smith mentioned
numerous crossings. They were quickly followed in
1932 when the gardener of Lord Liverpool and Pressley
also carried out some hybridizing with true species.

The Germans then started hybridizing independently
and further English crossings were made shortly
afterwards by Sillow, by the gardener of Walter Boyd
and by the two brothers called Baumann.

At this time there was considerable interest in these
originations because in 1846, Forester and the wellknown
Chelsea firm of Veitch raised many hybrids
using the best of the French varieties that had been
raised after 1845 by Charles Simon a cactus grower and
Lorenzo Courant his client.

In 1890 Johannes Nicolai started hybridizing in
Germany but died in 1901, before he had the
chance to see the result of his many crossings.
He raised nearly 300 varieties and although his brother
Woldemar carried on with the work, nearly all the
plants were lost during the First World War.

In 1894 George Borneman started a large horticultural
business at Blankenberg and by crossing
Nicolai's hybrids with the best English varieties he
united the English, German and French strains.

Curt Knebel, the greatest German hybridizer, was
born on the 16th June, 1871 and died in 1952 aged 81
years. In 1894, after some distinguished gardening
appointments, he started his own nursery at Erlau in
Saxony and by acquiring a small number of Nicolai's
plants and subsequently some of Borneman's and W. O.
Rothers originations, he had, by the First World War,
a very good collection of his own hybrids. Virtually
the whole of his collection was lost as a result of the war
and he painstakingly started again, evolving over 400
hybrids. During the Second World War, he again
lost nearly all his plants but many of his hybrids are still
available.

Knebel's name will long be remembered through his
lovely hybrids notably Professor Ebert, Stern von
Erlau, Augusta von Szombathy, Friedrich Werner
Buel, Adolph Hitler (now renamed Sherman E.
Beahm) and many others. He also managed to raise
several notable F.i and F.2 hybrids thus extending
the flowering period of these plants to virtually the
whole year.

Knebel's family are also remembered in his hybrids
with the varieties Frau Selma Knebel, his wife; Oswald
Knebel Jnr., his son; Andcnkcn an Bahnmeistcr (In
memory of the Stationmaster) Knebel, his father;
Frau Martha Siepkc, his daughter and Frau Emilie
Knebel, his mother and many others.

He also, in his later years, distributed seeds to
American hybridizers which were subsequently introduced
by R. W. Poindextcr and Mrs. Clarion Steele.
Some of these arc Bagdad, Dolores, Imp, Indoxol,
Nellie, orchid Supreme, Paradise and Wonderland.

So far as America was concerned, the hybrids
were not well known at all and only a few
dealers listed plants, notably A. Blanc & Co. of Philadelphia
in 1891; in 1896 by Mrs. Theodosia Burr
Shehcrd of Ventura California and by Mr. E. O. Orpct
of Santa Barbara, California, subsequently a foundermember
of the American Epiphyllum Society.

Between 1892 and the late 20's Franz de Laet of
Contich, Village lez Anvers, Belgium, raised a number
of hybrids and listed over 100 varieties in his catalogues.
Joseph de Laet and Madame William de Laet are two
well known examples.

When he died, the business was continued by his
daughter and son-in-law but was gradually dispersed
until finally the remaining collection was acquired by
various Dutch and Belgian growers and collectors.
In recent years, a Mr. Legrclle of La Louviere, who used
to be de-Laets' foreman gardener has been located and
found to have in his possession a collection of de
Laet's original hybrids. Unfortunately the names have
been mislaid over the years and as de Laet listed his
plants under colour groupings without individual
descriptions, a somewhat forbidding task lies to anyone
attempting to name the varieties discovered.

In 1905 an event occurred which gradually resulted
in the Americans realising the potentialities of the plants
growing on their own doorstep. Mr. H. M. Wegener
of Los Angeles went in this year to Germany for his
honeymoon. Whilst there, he visited Saxony and
spotted some hybrids in a peasant woman's cottage. He
acquired cuttings and brought them back to America,
but had little success with them until he moved to
California, where the plants thrived rapidly. The
plants were subsequently named by Wegener and are
such well known varieties as Goliath, Hermossissimus,
Flor de Sol, Paul de Longpre also known as Yellow
Stripe and others. Dr. Rose of Britton and Rose fame, a
personal friend of Wegener's sent him 20 plants collected
from the wilds to experiment with.

Some time after this, Wegener was vis ted by the late
Dr. Arthur Houghton of San Fernando, California
(Author of the Cactus Book publi hed by Macmillan in
1930) and on seeing the wonderful plants he became

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