Courtney Hackney's Beautiful C. dolosa

[Anglo]

Cattleya dolosa 'Hackneau'



As you may already know, Dr. Courtney Hackney is a professor of biology, an orchid hybridizer, and the author of American Cattleyas - Species and Outstanding Clones that Define American Hybridizing. He and his wife have a nice web site: http://roseg4art.com/ It's well worth visiting.

I found the web site this past summer in an ongoing search for dolosas, and bought a division of C. dolosa 'Hackneau'. Of those that have bloomed so far, this one has the best looking flower. In fact, it's one of the best looking dolosa flowers I've seen so far, either in real life or in pictures.

The division is big, and for now, gawky with 6-inch leaves on 8-inch pseudobulbs that reach out in all directions. This is obviously how they needed to grow when the rhizome was part of the mother plant. Now there is more sunlight and open space. A new growth appeared in the middle of the rhizome and came up straight and stocky. That's the p-bulb that flowered.

The flowers have a light, fruity fragrance in the morning. I don't know yet if it gets better as the day goes on because I haven't been home during the day since the flowers opened.