Cattleya ID

[Selmo]

This is one of our very first orchids. We have had it for some twenty plus years. It blooms very year at this time. We have a couple of these that the clump is a good 24+ inches across and produces 35-45 pairs of six inch flowers which can fill the whole house with a sweet heavenly fragrance. Can any help us ID this good old friend?

[Leslie]

Several info may be needed to help in identification:
1. When is growing period?
2. Single sheath or double sheath?
3. Root before bloom or after bloom?
4. How long is rest before blooming?
5. Is scent sweet or spicy?
6. Are leaves long or broad?
7. How many times does it bloom a year?
8. Height of plant minus pot?
9. How long do blooms last?
10. Are there any wing like tips on column?

These questions will help to determine if species (trianae, gaskelliana, lueddemaniana, jenmanii, percivaliana) or hybrid of these...


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[Selmo]

Sorry we have not gotten back to answer sooner. Where out of town and and did not want to answer from memory. Did look at the five speicies you mentioned and some of them sound similar but none seemed to fit everything,so I guessing hybrid. But here are some answers to the questions you asked. Hope it helps. It's growing period summer. It has a single sheath covering the flower buds, and four sheaths covering the pseudbulbs. Roots grow after the bloom. New pseudobulbs mature with bud sheath in Oct./early Nov. and rest until Feb. when buds start to push out. It has very strong sweet fragrance. Leave are long and narrow ( 9" X 2" ) on a narrow pseudobulb (6" X 1") making total of 15". It only blooms once a year, in mid Feb. or early March. The height of plant is about 15"/ 16". The blooms last about 3-5 weeks depending on how hot it gets in greenhouse. Yes there seems to be wings and fangs on the tip of column (see picture). Column seems to flare out like a cobra's hood. The column was 1.5" long and 0.5" wide at tip. There is about 3"-4" of stem before flowers start. Flowers are about 7" across and 6" tall and are only in pairs,sometimes only one, but never three or more. Hope this answers some of the questions and will help in IDing this one. Thanks for taking your time to help us.

[Orchid Whisperer]

The short answer is (1) you will never be able to get an exact ID since the plant is not labeled. Because of this, it should remain unlabeled. (2) you might be able to get a "rough ancestry", sufficient to provide cultural information (but you likely don't need this anyway, since it has been well cared for in the 20 years you have owned it).

As an example of why you can't do better than this, consider Cattlianthe Golden Wax. There are some named clones of this grex. I have a Cattlianthe Golden Wax that is not a named clone, but I have documentation of its parentage from 30 years ago. Mine is yellow-orange, bright red lip, with a red blush on the petals, imitating the lip (slight peloria). Some named clones of Cattlianthe Golden Wax are a clear lemon yellow. Comparing photos of the two flowers, there is only a vague "family resemblance", you would likely never guess they were the same cross!

[silken]

Originally Posted by Orchid Whisperer

The short answer is (1) you will never be able to get an exact ID since the plant is not labeled. Because of this, it should remain unlabeled. (2) you might be able to get a "rough ancestry", sufficient to provide cultural information (but you likely don't need this anyway, since it has been well cared for in the 20 years you have owned it).

As an example of why you can't do better than this, consider Cattlianthe Golden Wax. There are some named clones of this grex. I have a Cattlianthe Golden Wax that is not a named clone, but I have documentation of its parentage from 30 years ago. Mine is yellow-orange, bright red lip, with a red blush on the petals, imitating the lip (slight peloria). Some named clones of Cattlianthe Golden Wax are a clear lemon yellow. Comparing photos of the two flowers, there is only a vague "family resemblance", you would likely never guess they were the same cross!

I totally agree. That's a gorgous floofy pink Catt, but there are so many that are similar. And even if there weren't a lot of look alikes, like OW says, they can still differ within the same hybrid. I trade orchids with a friend of mine whenever we have divided pieces to share. Even the very same plant grown in different conditions has a different colour quite often and blooms and progresses very differently.

[Selmo]

Thank you all for the good advice. We will continue to call it Cattleya #11 (for it being the 11th cattleya we owned) like we have for all these years. Once agian thanks for the sound advice.

[silken]

The fact that it's name is unknown doesn't detract from its beauty at all

[Leslie]

The ID questionnaire I put forth will help:

1. Differentiate if species or hybrid
2. Trace possible species background

Based on your answers, this is not a species (too many traits from different species) but does give possible genes from trianae (blooming period, lip coloration, number of blooms, flower longevity), gaskeliana (root after bloom, sweet fragrance), labiata (Oct buds) and lueddemaniana (wing tips).

Like all mentioned above, it can be any hybrid out there at this point.

But as Silken mentioned, it's a beauty, named or not!


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[No-Pro-mwa]

It is a beauty. I do love these big giant Catts.

[Selmo]

Here is updated photo on good old cattleya #11. You can smell it every where in the greenhouse.