Cattleya labiata albo-oculata 'Canaima's Monica' AM/AOS
 

Awarded in 2015 with an AM of 81 points, this is a division I acquired in 2014 from Canaima. It took 2 years to establish and finally bloomed this week in time for Christmas 2016.

Two crisp white flowers, like an alba ('albo'), except with a darker maroon stripes hidden inside the throat. These stripes create a 'round' shape, aptly called oculata, meaning an eye. Thus, the horticultural variety called albo-oculata, as it is not a pure alba.

The substance is pretty hard compared to the actually award description, which was medium.

At almost 13 cm, it is still one centimetre short of the awarded division at 14 cm. I figured it may be due that it's first bloom from establishing and will need to grow stronger ... but the shape is incredible !!!

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Such a lovely white Catt, with that surprise little eye winking at you from the right angle. I'm sure it has the potential for a higher award.

Thanks for the kind comments PMM. The winking of a flower does inspire many an unsuspecting newbie to get a closer look 😉.


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Beautiful! I love it!

The "eye" is spectacular, but made so because the entire flower is a delight. What a special flower!

Beautiful

Thanks guys. I recently reviewed the pics of white labiatas in books and online and saw that the shape of this one is quite spectacular... it is one of the best shaped labiatas out there, not just for albas but also lavenders. I'm so happy to get a division from Canaima. And that dark eye is a great accent to the superb shape.


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