Cattleya labiata alba first flowering

[smweaver]

I got this plant a few years ago and it's only now flowering for the first time. It was sold to me as Cattleya labiata var. alba by a reputable West Coast grower, so I'm hoping (unless someone with a lot more experience than I have with this species tells me otherwise) that's what it is (the reason that I'm not positive is that I've read that labiata has a distinctive double sheath, and this plant produced a single sheath). The larger of the two flowers has been open for two days and seems to be getting larger; so far, however, there's no discernible fragrance (and hoping that will change over the next few days!). The close-up was taken with flash, which is why it appears brighter. Not a huge plant, but it's been a very vigorous and easy grower.

Steve

[Brooke]

Absolutely gorgeous!

Brooke

[Rosim_in_BR]

To me, it looks a perfect Cattleya labiata, and a very desirable one byt the way. Double sheath in C. labiata is not mandatory. It always appears in some clones, never in others, and in a random way in others (I mean double sheath is produced in some years, not in others, or still sometimes two pseudo bulbs side by side show one and two sheaths). Lou Menezes has demonstrated these facts through extensive field research he did on C. labiata and C. warneri. Both have the same behavior. The explanation for this is that these species are very instable genetically. This is not difficult to buy, because we all know the many variations both have, not only in their flowers, but also in some vegetative characteristics. So, don't worry about one or two sheaths. My own experience with this plant corroborates Lou's conclusions one hundred percent.

[DebsC]

It's fabulously pristine! Congratulations on this one!!