Lombara Five Acres

[Salixx]

This was an impulse buy at the NHOS Show in February that has turned out well. It's a cute little plant with a growth habit that I think looks more like a Dendrobium than a Catt, but, hey, it's a Catt!



It has a pretty cool habit where the buds grow straight out then flip backwards as the flower opens so they are facing the opposite direction that they have grown.



Here's the full plant. It's not a great picture and gives off the illusion that the plant is much larger than it is. All in all, it's about 5'' tall, 10'' counting the spike.

[Bohata]

I am having trouble finding the genus name on the "net, if Lombara is one. It is probably part Epidendrum, which can be quite Dendrobium-like in growth habit, although it is more closely related to Cattleya and often hybridized with it. Other people may know more about the genus. Whatever the ancestry, it is beautiful!

[Salixx]

I accidentally spelled it wrong in the title, it should be Lambara - it's fixed there as well.

Lambara is an intergeneric group. As far as my searches have shown, this is the only plant under it. The cross is: Bardendrum Nanboh X Broughtonia sanguinea.



>And, I feel a little daft. Apparently, it's Aces, not Acres. I've been calling it "Acres" for months

....I thought Five Acres was a silly name.

[Bohata]

Then I was right about the Epidendrum part. Bardendrum is the cross between Epidendrum and Barkeria. One bonus from both the Epidendrum ancestor and the Broughtonia is that wonderful sequential blooming characteristic. You should be enjoying those flowers for a long time!

[PaphMadMan]

Yes, this is the only Lambara (Barkeria x Broughtonia x Epidendrum) so far, but there are similar Barkeria hybrids somewhat more commonly seen - Bardendrum, Cattkeria, Brassokeria, etc. This plant strongly resembles the Barkeria ancestor, and Barkeria species tend to look like a cross between a reed stem Epi and a Cattleya or similar type.

Barkeria species and hybrids haven't been as popular as many other Catt relatives. They tend to be fairly large gangly plants with smaller flowers, but as this shows they can be quite lovely. Thanks for posting this beauty.

[Salixx]

Today my Lambara has five blooms open and four more to go. It looks like that will be the end of the spike but that's okay. It's last blooming lasted a while, at least two months. It's also already initiated a new growth, so yippy!

[fishmom]

I'd say that was a real success.

[Jeff214]

A beauty!

Growth kinda reminds me of my Epicatarthron.

[KokeshiHappyGreen]

What a cutie! And my, what gorgeous roots And flowers. That's a really Interesting fact about how they grow one direction as buds, then flip. Wonder what that adapted for in the wild ancestors of this intergeneric?

Thanks for sharing.