Cattleya deckeri

[PaphMadMan]

Possibly a better explanation of this species is here: Kew

Synonymous with Guarianthe x laelioides (aurantica x skinneri). This accounts for smaller size and cleistogamy. When you have a cleistogamous population of such a hybrid you're probably looking at a very inbred origin, which also can account for otherwise unexplained difference from parent species. How such a population gets established in a particular place may be hard to explain, but when it might be from just one seed anything can happen.

[isurus79]

Originally Posted by Leslie

Although that is the case that deckeri is a synonym for skinneri, I want to give reasons why it really isn't the same plant:

1. Skinneris are double the size of deckeris in the plant size and flowers.
2. They are from different countries, skinneri from Mexico/Costa Rica and deckeri from Panama/Venezuela.
3. Deckeris auto pollinate (cleistogamy), but not skinneris
4. Skinneris bloom in spring and deckeris in fall...

These are MAJOR differences and NOT the same plant...


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I would argue only #4 is a valid reason to dispute Kew. The others are simply morphological variability addressed by PaphMadMan below.

Originally Posted by PaphMadMan

Possibly a better explanation of this species is here: Kew

Synonymous with Guarianthe x laelioides (aurantica x skinneri). This accounts for smaller size and cleistogamy. When you have a cleistogamous population of such a hybrid you're probably looking at a very inbred origin, which also can account for otherwise unexplained difference from parent species. How such a population gets established in a particular place may be hard to explain, but when it might be from just one seed anything can happen.