Cattleya intermedia var alba? Or C. snow queen? - Orchid Board

Aussie42 · #1 11-23-2009, 12:25 AM

Hi folks.

I have two white Cats out at the moment, both from different sources.

Plant 1 - photos 1 & 2:

The first plant came without a tag of any sort in a batch of orchids I bought about this time last year. I would be happy enough to call it C. intermedia var alba but if you have any suggestions I'd be more than happy to hear them.

Plant 2 - photos 3 & 4

The second - well, I was given this in December last year. I was told it was C. snow queen by the grower. I was also told by the grower that C. snow queen is almost identical to C. intermedia var alba to the point where they are very difficult to tell apart. Now from my researches, this second plant doesn't look like C. snow queen...

I can add that the flowers on both plants have opened in the last week. I've found that separate pieces or examples of the same plant will often flower at the same time (often open within a few days of each other or on the same day) so this adds to my view that both plants may be intermedia var alba.

Any ideas?

Cheers,
Aus.

tuvoc · #2 11-23-2009, 10:56 AM

Hmmm. Both are very lovely, but to my eye, neither one looks like intermedia. Maybe someone else can give you a better answer.

Kim

Aussie42 · #3 11-23-2009, 06:21 PM

Thanks Kim. I'm fairly new to orchids and am open to any suggestions. This just immediately looked to me like the alba form of:

Unknown Catt alliance

I suspect it's probably fairly common, so I thought it was a good guess. That and some pictures I'd checked out on the internet led me down this path. Regardless, they're very nicely shaped flowers.

Cheers,
Aus.

Aussie42 · #4 11-25-2009, 08:01 PM

It finally occurred to me to take a picture of the two flowers side by side. This may or may not assist, but it's worth a shot.

Cheers,
Aus.

Carl Austin · #5 11-25-2009, 11:51 PM

I don't think either of those flowers are C intermedia. I could be wrong but I don't think so.

Carl

gixrj18 · #6 11-26-2009, 10:59 AM

The flowers look like purpurata or gaskelliana, but the lip looks to have a little forbesii.

tuvoc · #7 11-26-2009, 02:06 PM

I looked aroud a bit and found this Orchids - Cattleya 84 What do you think?

Kim

gixrj18 · #8 11-26-2009, 02:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tuvoc

I looked aroud a bit and found this Orchids - Cattleya 84 What do you think?

Kim

That looks close, but I think the lip is different....my