Lovely big Catt with no name

[let_it_grow]

I saved this lady from being thrown out from a flower shop and she was a disaster as you can see from the pictures. I staked her upright slowly and she actually bloomed for me. Now I would love to know what she is. I am having a hard time getting the colour right in the pics that I take but she is a deep fuschia/ red wine in her lip, the pics make her look more monotone. Any input would be appreciated

[greengarden]

Not a catt from what I can see, looks like a dendrobium of some sort.

[kevin1217]

I actually think its a catt, but cant help you with the id. It looks beautiful though!

[let_it_grow]

It was labeled as a Catt but nothing further to identify and the flower spike had a sheath on it like catts do. I showed a pic to the guy at Orchids in our tropics and he said it was prob a catt as well. the pseudobulb grew just like all my other catts with the sheath on them and little no no leaf tip on the sheath except for the 2 at the very top. It lost some leaves in the summer to sunburn so some pseudobulbs only have one leaf or none but they all had 2 when i got it

[Stray59]

Yes, she is a cattleya - it looks like it has a lot of species cattleya in her. She has the long stems and two-leaf structure of some of the species, similar to Cat. bowringiana or like. When they bred the hybrids, they started getting shorter and stouter. Any way, she is verrry happy. Unfortunately, these can kind of be sprawling by nature, and are less popular due to that. But with staking you can kind of corral it!
What a cluster of blooms! They are phenomenal and the flower color is great.
Good save!
Steve

[Picotee]

Certainly looks like you have a bifoliate cattleya there. Great job staking and you are rewarded with a beautiful head of buds. Perhaps when more flowers open someone may be able to ID it.

[let_it_grow]

I am soooo pleased. As you can see from the 1st picture she was in rough shape and her root ball had pushed her right out of any potting medium. Most of the roots were dead so it took me hours to soak and untangle them and cut the dead ones off. I potted her in a coarse bark since her roots were thick and I figured she needed drainage and to add extra moisture I used small cut up chunks of rockwool. I wanted something that would retain water but not break down so quickly cause I knew she would not tolerate another repotting anytime soon. Since the bark breaks down slower than spag and the rockwool is inert I have used the combination on many rescues to reduce shock, allow drainage and add moisture. It seems to have done the trick. I am bringing her by the place I got her from. He asked me to bring her in if she lived and flowered. I'm hoping that he will have the mercy to sign over a few more dying chids to my care for free after seeing that I actually can bring them back from deaths door lol. Fingers crossed. I'll post new pics of all the blooms that have opened

[cbuchman]

Good save! and a beautiful reward for your efforts.

[nikv]

I'd say she's a Laeliocattleya. But that's just a guess. Definitely has some bifoliate Cattleya in the pedigree.

[tucker85]

Good job saving that orchid. It's a bifoliate cattleya hybrid but you'll probably never be able to find the exact name. I have many NOIDs that have been great orchids for me so don't worry about not having a name. Enjoy.