Laelia lobata?
 

I bought this plant from a reputable vendor who stated that it's the species Laelia lobata var. coerulea. It does not, however, look like a lobata to me. If any of you have experience with lobata (or any other laelias), could you please help me identify this plant? It's the first laelia I've ever purchased, so perhaps it actually is lobata. But again, the plant (both leaves and pseudobulbs) just doesn't look like the pictures I've seen of that species. Thank you.

Steve

Steve, it seems to me that your plant is a selfing of Laelia lobata caerulea. The pseudo bulb shape of your plant fits perfectly well to L lobata careulea pseudo bulbs when they are still young. Also, I have seen that it is very common that L. lobata caerulea selfings or sib crosses have many clones showing pseudo bulbs with two leaves while they're still young and it seem that your plant has one with two leaves. I grow two different clones of L. lobata caerulea, they are very similar to yours, one of them also showing a few pseudo bulbs with two leaves. So, don’t worry, it seems that you’ve got what you’ve paid for!

That's great to know! Thank you, Mauro! I was just worried that I might have gotten something other than what was listed on the seller's website--especially since this plant looks nothing like even the smaller seedlings that I have of other cattleya species I have (and yes, I know that pure lobata has been bouncing around from one genus to another since its discovery and that it's not technically considered to be a cattleya; I just recently read the Arthur Chadwick book where he makes an argument for including it in the cattleya genus). Thanks again for your feedback.

Steve