Cattleya walkeriana 'Luiz Castro III'

[Anglo]

There are four ‘Luiz Castro’ walkerianas, all of which were collected from a wild population. I have a machine translation of text from a Japanese web page that is confusing, but I presume it means that they were named after the man who found them. It reads, “This individual the famous collector of Brazil is the individual which entitle your own name.”

The plants were originally distinguished from one another with numeric suffixes, but the suffixes have been so commonly omitted for so many years that most walkeriana growers don't know which is which anymore. That is, if they even know that there are four different ones.

‘Luiz Castro III’ is my favorite because I like the balanced proportions and somewhat squarish shape of its flowers. ‘Luiz Castro IV’ is generally the most popular one, at least in part because of its large, round petals. ‘Luiz Castro II’ also has large, round petals that overlap with a teardrop-shaped opening between them, but it's not as well shaped overall. ‘Luiz Castro I’ is a nice example of C. walkeriana, but has no particularly distinctive features, which may be why it appears to be the rarest one in cultivation.

I’ve been looking for more information on these walkerianas for about three years now, and have found only scarce bits and pieces on Brazilian and Japanese web sites. Divisions have been popular in Japan for over 20 years that I know of, so there are occasional listings on Yahoo Japan Auctions that provide some interesting information. I’m not sure how reliable it all is, especially when I can’t halfway understand it.

I’d still like to learn just where and when they were discovered and if they really were found by the man they’re named for. Does anybody know anything more about their history?