Accents

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Female Orchid Classification System

Accents are creases, lines, or ridges that can also provide uniqueness to orchids. In many cases, an accent is designated for a starting or intermediate form of a feature that has not reached fruition. For example, a bifurcation accent is a crease on the sheath that doesn’t create multiple paths on the sheath i.e. looks like the start of a bifurcation that hasn’t formed. Accents have huge variation but can be easily described.

FG Meridian

A common accent is a straight ridge that bisects the sheath, the opposite of bifurcation in orchids. In FOCS, this is designated as an fg meridian accent. Fg meridians are difficult to identify unless the lighting and perspective angle of the image are correct.

In males, a similar line is called the scrotal raphe, but in orchids, it doesn’t appear to be specifically named. One could speculate on the possible evolutionary advantage to having this type of accent, and why it would be passed down through countless generations. In the end, it’s just an unexplainable feature like red hair or freckles. This feature is, however, common enough that it requires naming – the fg meridian. It’s interesting and entertaining, but there’s no universal truth to be derived from it. I’ll leave it to readers to guess the full name of the abbreviation fg.

The following are examples of the fg meridian accent.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Creases and Striations

Crease accents (not to be confused with hood creases) and striation accents are distinctive lines in the skin. The difference between creases and striations are that creases are designated for one to several prominent lines, whereas striations are designated for many lines in a particular location.

Examples below.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pseudo Hood

Under the previous Ridgeforms Section, a pseudo hood ridgeform was described as a shadow hood on the sheath that comprises ridgeforms usually extending downwards and fusing with the labia. A pseudo hood accent looks similar to the pseudo hood ridgeform but comprises creases instead of ridgeforms. The pseudo hood accent is a common pattern and forms an inverted V on the sheath as illustrated below.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bifurcation

Similar to pseudo hood accents, bifurcation accents are creases that bisect the sheath but don’t split into multiple stream ridgeforms. It’s as if the bifurcation process started but did not complete to final form with ridgeforms. Of course, starting, intermediate and final forms in nature, as with orchids, are all equally valid forms.

Examples of bifurcation accents below.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Serrated Labia

Some labia have what appears to be an irregular edge. In FOCS, this has been designated as a serrated labia accent , meaning the edge of the labia appears notched or toothed on the edge as the following illustrations depict.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stirrup

A stirrup accent is a common feature of orchids with and without stirrups. As with other accents, it’s as if the process of stirrup development was initiated, but stopped before further development could occur. Stirrup accents are illustrated below.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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