Three cuties to identify (Phal, Cym and a...laeliacattleya?)

[Silje]

Hello guys

I've got three flowering orchids that I would like you to identify for me...

I've been scrolling through what feels like an endless number of orchid pics and just realized it is a jungle out there, and I'm completely lost and in need of some ID guidance here...

The first one is a phal. I bought this one just before it began flowering, and was just dying to see how it looked once it opened up. Turns out it was a nice surprise. It looks so different from all my other phals. Do you know if it has a name? It is rather large plant, I'd say and the spike must be something like 60cm high or so... but I don't know if it is the type of phal, or just my specific plant that is so tall.



The second one is large cymbidium of some sort. I suspect it is one of those tree size huge things. At the moment it is around 80 cm tall and still fairly young, I think.

Got this one from a woman that is running a small nursery. She couldn't tell me anything about the plant. Does anybody know this one? Does it have a name?



And the last one is my favorite and profile picture. I love this one. The flowers are fairly small, but it has so bright and happy colors. Initially I thought it was a Laeliocattleya Red Gold, but when I look at pictures...It doesn't quite match. Does anyone know what this is?




Appreciate any feedback and suggestions.

I don't know the names, but they all are beautiful. My favorite is catt. I'd like to find out the name to put it in my wish list

[Ray]

The simple fact is that you will never know the true identity of any of them. No matter how much a plant may "look like" a photo, you will never know for sure, as there can be huge variations within any hybrid - enough so that appearances can overlap.

[RosieC]

I agree with Ray. Unidentified orchids in Phals, Cyms, Catts & Dens will likely always stay that way unless you have more detail (like knowing it's definitely a species, or being able to contact the grower).

So many hybrids are made, many of them never registered, that their appearances overlap and you cannot be sure you have a particular one.

Don't worry though I have lots of unidentified (NoID) orchids and they are just as fun to grow and some of my best flowering ones don't have a name.

I like to make up names for mine, as long as you never use the name when showing pictures (or make it clear it's made up if you do) or for judging, then having you own names is something a lot of people like to do for their NoIDs.

[Silje]

Yeah, I expected them to be NoIDs of some sort.

I guess I was hoping that that catt had a name, because I would so like to get more of that one... I guess I'll just have to look out for similar colors and jump whenever I see any.

Oh, all my orchids got name up to now. They are still so few, and easy to tell apart.

[Starla]

An Orchid Photo database, Orchidshow Calendar of shows around the world, and a Search Engine for species and hybrid

You could always try here if you want to put in the effort there is one hell of a collection to flick through!

[Gage]

Love the last one! (soft spot for orange)

[dounoharm]

ditto ray, no matter how many pictures you find of similar orchids, they will be just that, similar....it is impossible to correctly id plants without tags....just be happy with them as beautiful noids.....gl