Cattleya maxima 'Gorgeous' SM/JOGA

[NYCorchidman]

This is a mericlone of a nice plant, but I guess I got a inferior clone. lol

Anyways, what adds to the problem is that I could not get a good photo.
There are four lovely colored flowers and they look much better in person.

Oh, and these are very nicely scented.
I love it!

Anyways, for those cattleya species people, I read that maxima has roughly two different forms.
Low landforms are large plant with big heads of flowers while the upland forms are smaller with darker colored flowers with often red pigmented pseudobulbs.

Mine is a small plant but the whole plant is green.
The flower color is rather dark. hmmm
Maybe the two forms are literally very rough distinction and many different forms are present??

[plumania]

Love it.

[campchi]

Really nice flower.

[silken]

It looks pretty nice to me!

[WhiteRabbit]

wonderful!

[POLKA]

hi
the blooming seems a bit early, but I'm not sure. I would venture a guess that maybe the two forms were crossed?

Betcha the next blooming is superior!

Rex

[smweaver]

They're very pretty, and the color is great. I agree with Rex's comment about next year's blooms possibly being superior. It's amazing to see how much of a difference that really excellent growing can do for improving the size and shape of flowers. So I would be pretty pleased with what you acquired. Congratulations.

[isurus79]

Looks good! And there are plenty of exceptions to the rules governing the average color of flowers for the lowland and highland forms. The height of the plant itself will be your guide to which form you have. The lowland plants are pretty tall and is the reason that the species name is maxima!

[NYCorchidman]

Thanks, everyone!

This is its first blooming, so I'm looking forward to the next blooming.

Steve- This plant is petite, so I would say this is the upland form. I read the upland forms need cool nights. Dang it!

Regarding the name, I thought the name maxima was given because the flower was the largest among cattleyas that were known at the time.

[isurus79]

Originally Posted by NYCorchidman

Steve- This plant is petite, so I would say this is the upland form. I read the upland forms need cool nights. Dang it!

Nah, mine grows well outside in the Texas heat or inside with minimal temperature fluctuations. These guys are pretty bulletproof!

Originally Posted by NYCorchidman

Regarding the name, I thought the name maxima was given because the flower was the largest among cattleyas that were known at the time.

I stand corrected, you're right on this point! Cattleya maxima | Chadwick and Son Orchids