Identification by foliage only?
 

Not quite from a gas station, but from the bargain bin at the local greenhouse. Their orchid person was out and there weren't any similarly sized/shaped orchids to be found in the shop, so here I am.

Can my specimen be narrowed to at least a particular genus?

Thanks for your time & expertise...

well... you can narrow it to anything Cattleya-like, e.g. Cattleya, Laeliocattleya, Brassocattleya, and so on... the important thing now is to grow under Cattleya conditions: http://www.orchidboard.com/Cattleya-Culture-Care-Sheet and enjoy the time waiting for the bloom :)

don't forget to post pics! ;)

I'm thinking Cattleya (or a hybrid with Cat) because of the length of the pseudobulbs, and by the way, that looks like a flower sheath to the right! Good going.

As far as my newbie inspection goes, I think it's a spent stalk that was pruned off by the nursery. If the small remainders of the spent stalks are now brown and dry, how long until it blooms again? What's a typical cycle for something in the Northern Hemisphere? Or is this a classic: depends.

in the first picture posted, there are several pseudobulbs. one indeed has a spent stalk (far left of the photo). however, one has a bright green sheath (far right of the photo, looks like a slightly translucent small leaf). if cared for properly, a new flower stalk will emerge from this sheath. actually, from my experience (which is clearly limited), once you get a sheath, they get less demanding to take it all the way to flowering, it's getting the sheath that is the tricky part.

Nice little pick-up there :banana:
You could see flowers as early as spring. Some catts can hold on to the sheaths for over a year. Hopefuly it'll be sonner for you.

Make sure your plant isn't getting to cold by the window and maintian good strong lighting. so the sheath doesn't abort.

:goodluck:

Thank you Ross, Scott & Lagoon. Orchids are so foreign to me that until your explanation I didn't even realize what to look for (I thought the sheath was just another bit of foliage). Fun stuff, and a whole new world of plants to explore.

Update
 

The sheath popped, and hopefully in a few weeks (anybody want to venture a guess on time-until-open?), I'll have a few blooms to help further ID this find.

I think I was first to predict the flowers, right? :evil: Do I get a prize? :biggrin: :hmm Seriously, great job. Cats don't always cooperate and bloom when you'd like.

Yep, you were the first to explain what I didn't understand, so I'll offer up the first bloom pics to you before I publish them to the whole forum. No pressure. :)

How about April 4th until the first bud cracks open...
(and maybe white flowers?) :biggrin:

-Pat

April 21 .. :biggrin:

April 24th and I think they're gonna be purple. :evil:

I am steadily growing more amazed at the size of these buds. I had no idea they'd get this big without opening.

Blooms!
 

The buds cracked on Sunday 3/30, and the white and purple blooms became visible this morning, 3/31.

Any thoughts on an ID?

So exciting! Good purchase, and good growing!