Genetic diversity between native and improved Cattleya walkeriana Gardner famous clones

The aim of this study was to evaluate the genetic diversity among native plants and some individuals obtained from crosses with unknown genealogy of C. walkeriana as well as C. loddigesii and C. nobilior and to advance towards solving the question of the genetic purity of the “Orchidglade” clone. Eight microsatellite loci were used to evaluate the genetic diversity between individuals of C. walkeriana. Microsatellites were not efficient in determining the genetic diversity between C. walkeriana groups (native and improved). The difficulty in determining the genetic distance between the different genotypes can be attributed to the complex mating system of the species and to a weak genetic barrier that facilitates the development of hybrids. Our analysis revealed smaller genetic distances between the “Orchidglade”, “Equilab”, “Kenny” and “Pedentive” clones and the species C. loddigesii and C. nobilior. Native C. walkeriana plants were genetically more distant from the C. loddigesii and C. nobilior species.