Sophronitis (Laelia) purpurata 'Russeliana'
 

This is my first bloom of this species. It takes up lots of room, but it's worth it.

http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/b...06-12-10wh.jpg

http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/b...06-12-2010.jpg

That's a beautiful orchid, I love the veining on the lip! The photos are gorgeous as well, you should consider entering one in the photo contest for the OB calendar, which should normally start in a few months.

I agree, great image, but to go on the calender you have to have it's right name and that is Cattleya purpurata.

Warren

Fantastic blooms you have there! How's the fragrance?

Steve

The scent reminds me of an iris.

I'm no taxonomist. I'll defer to others.

That's what I do, the R.H.S. gives you all the correct names for free.

Warren

Wish I knew the right name. van den Berg and Chase classify it as Sophronitis in a peer-reviewed paper in 2008 but they subsequently change their tune in a web-based publication (I don't know if it's peer-reviewed: http://www.neodiversity.org/articles/neod3102.pdf) and call it a Cattleya.

The R.H.S. is the body that gives all Orchid's their correct names, don't worry about any other people's names. If you want to register a hybred you have to do it through the R.H.S. It is a very good site, a little hard at first but once you get the hang of it you will be able to put the correct name to all your sp. and hybred's.

Warren

There is a lot of changes going on in the Catt/Laelia/Soph world lately. New DNA tests are proving that some orchids where classified wrongly, but all the same the borders between genera are still hard to define.How much genetic difference warrants classification into a separate genus? While in the past the tendency was to split things up into many genera, the new trend is to lump things together. I may be wrong, but I think that with the new classifications the Sophonitis genus has disappeared and been absorbed into another genus. Many people don't agree with the lumping (botanists never agree), and many didn't agree with the splitting but the RHS pretty much has the final word on it. What they say goes, but the name will probably end up changing in the future, as they all seem to do!