What kind of cattleya is this?

[ckube]

I have 20-30 rather wild orchids growing on palms and such in my back yard. I love them and know a little about them - enough to know some are cattleyas and some are dendrobiums - but I also know there may be cross breeds and such.

At any rate, this beautiful cattleya bloomed a week ago or so and I have not been able to find pictures of anything like it. It seems to only have 4 sepals - or maybe petals? - and the center has not opened (yet?). They are quite large and almost look like a lily.

[SouthPark]

Does the other flower look exactly like this one, with the same features?

What's happening with this one is that a mutation has occurred for the cells or something - of this flower. So what we see here is ------ a deformity -- or maybe better to put it down as, not the regular shape. The typical (normal) flowers will have 2 petals and 3 sepals ---- so five 'tepals' altogether. This one is missing has two petals (on the side), and the other two are sepals. And the lip is missing as well ----- where the lip is probably a petal too - a modified one.

[ckube]

Originally Posted by SouthPark

Does the other flower look exactly like this one, with the same features?

What's happening with this one is that a mutation has occurred for the cells or something - of this flower. So what we see here is ------ a deformity -- or maybe better to put it down as, not the regular shape. The typical (normal) flowers will have 2 petals and 3 sepals ---- so five 'tepals' altogether. This one is missing has two petals (on the side), and the other two are sepals. And the lip is missing as well ----- where the lip is probably a petal too - a modified one.

Yes, they both are the same. Here is a picture of the other one as best I could

[SouthPark]

Thanks for showing the pic of the other flower. This sort of occurrence won't necessarily happen all the time. Impossible to say if it will happen next time too. It might not. Nice variation all the same. Nice to be different sometimes. It might just come out as regular catt flowers next time it flowers.

[estación seca]

Let us know whether this happens in the future. It might be a stable mutation. People are always looking for weird things so maybe it would be commercially valuable.

[Fairorchids]

It looks like two sepals fused ('upper' looks normal, and 'lower' looks extra wide), as well as the lip failed to form at all.

As ES said, if it is stable (repeats this appearance on next blooming), there could be some demand for this 'oddity'.