Not so often seen Cattleya mooreana

[Rosim_in_BR]

The genus Cattleya has some of the showiest orchid species, but also shelter a few that are, say, more modest. Plants like Cattleya dormaniana, C. elongata, C. kerrii, C. porphyroglossa and C. mooreana may not be the queens of the visual appeal, but they are attractive in their own ways. Unfortunately, they are not quite often seen in the collections and by consequence also little known by the orchid enthusiasts.
The flowers shown below belong to Cattleya mooreana, a species discovered in Peru by the end of the 50’s if my memory works well, but described only in 1988 by Dr. Carl L. Withner in the first Volume of his interesting work entitled The Cattleyas and Their Relatives, Vol. I - The Cattleyas. There, the original Latin description appears and he also tells how he came across the new plant in the 1958, only to loose it right after having it in hands, not before he could take a photograph of the flowers. Almost 30 years would pass before he could have another specimen in hands, in 1987, to proceed with the description the species deserved.
But, Cattleya mooreana continues to be a seldom seen species in the collections and quite often orchidists look at it as though it was a mere variation of C. luteola. Although similar, it is not. The plant is much more robust and taller than its dwarf cousin. Well-grown plants easily reach 40-45 cm in height. The flowers substance is heavy, somewhat less waxy than in Cattleya gutatta or schilleriana for comparison, but much more than what is seen in C. luteola. Also, the lip in C. mooreana is covered with small, white hairs, which can be seen in the close up photo of the lip below, something I cannot see in C. luteola.
Although very difficult to find here in Brazil, I already had it before, but ended up loosing it during an excessively cold winter when I forgot the plant outside. I acquired this plant last year in a very poor condition, infected by fungal diseases, one of the leaves with a deep cut, almost dividing it in two halves. It has been treated since then and shows signs of gradual recovery. The new pseudo bulb born in my grh is shorter than the others, but clean, free of the dark fungal marks and gave these three flowers.

Here they are:
Cattleya mooreana Withner, Allison & Guenard on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

And here's the lip close up:
Cattleya mooreana Withner, Allison & Guenard on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

[isurus79]

That is a very cool species! It looks greate! I have heard of this one, but never known anyone who has kept it. Are you going to self it or let it grow some more first?

[Rosim_in_BR]

Originally Posted by isurus79

That is a very cool species! It looks greate! I have heard of this one, but never known anyone who has kept it. Are you going to self it or let it grow some more first?

I have to make it get a little stronger, Steve. If the next growth grows stronger then next year I'll have it selfed, if I don't find any foreign pollen, (which most likely will be the case).

[Tindomul]

Wow, very nice. I don't think has anything to envy of the other species.

[Becca]

Stunning Mauro! I don't understand why more people don't grow this one? I'm off to search out a vendor for a future purchase down the road! You just keep adding to my wish list for me! lol.

[SP2340]

Wow! Beautiful! And thank you for the always good information

[tuvoc]

How really lovely! Well done, Mauro.

Kim

[ChrisFL]

Originally Posted by Jan Pahl

Here in Venezuela the difficult species is violacea,but not the violet-pink and rubras, I am talking about other color "varieties" (alba, all kinds of semialba, coerulea and flamea), the reason is that previously owners of wild non-type cultivars were miserable people that didn't wanted to divide, reproduce or clone the plant even if in the middle all proposals were good business. For them having a wild semialba was something about "showiness" like the "witch jewel affair" with the first 2 purpurata Ardosia from Torres municipality.

Wow. You are the second person I have heard that exact same story from. And then the owners of said plants passed on and left them in the hands of folks with no orchid expertise? I am obsessed with C. violacea, but don't have the conditions to grow it. And, thank goodness, have never had the insane amounts of money that are required to purchase confirmed coerulea, estriata, etc. varieties.

I think part of the reason violacea "varieties" where so uncommon is that inside Venezuela, the "Apure lowland savanna" biotype of violacea since very resent times were almost the only kind of violacea collected from the wild, that "biotype" have many good examples of very dark and very well shaped flowers, but no inner-variability like the Amazonian and "tepuy" area Violaceas have more ""easily"".

Interesting. Do you have any literature references where I can read about different biotypes of C. violacea? By Tepui area violaceas, do you mean the same types of habitats as C. lawrenceana?

[Virgil]

I really like the c. violacea , I have the typical one, and not really knowing a lot about it I divided it into 3 plants, two are now starting new growths and roots, the third has 5 psedo. bulbs but not showing any thing yet, it was a reliable bloomer twice a year, I have a photo of it in my profile, I will start a search for different types and hope I can find one or some, Mauro has really got me to wanting more catt. species. He has a wonderful collection.