Need ID...
 

I have this one for about a year and is the first time it blooms. Just need ID to tag it. Thanks. =)

http://img694.imageshack.us/img694/7468/dscn0213ge.jpg

It's a hybrid in the Cattleya alliance - ID is impossible with such hybrids if the tags are lost.

Ron, hybrid or Cattleya lueddemanniana?

It is possible that it's C. lueddemaniana, but that's just to say again how difficult it is to ID a plant without a proper tag. I'd want to know first where it came from, etc.

I've Googled C. Lueddemaniana and found some photos that looks almost identical to mine, so I guess it is. THANKS A LOT..! You're the best! :-)

Caoq, looking at a picture and identifying a plant are two entirely different things. First, if it's a hybrid there is no way to ID it. Many hybrids look so similar to a parent that that it's impossible to know whether it's a hybrid or species without test selfings and evaluation of the offspring.

If you were certain it is a species, then a trained taxonomist would need to ID it if possible. Just because it looks like a picture you see is meaningless. This is precisely how plants get mislabeled.

hhhuuuiiiss... indeed it looks somehow like lueddemaniana, however there is something wrong with those petals (e.g. the central light marking in the middle is not very typical lueddemaniana!)

I agree with Ron, that it is a NOID...

as Goodgollymissmolly said if you are 100% it is a species, a trained taxonomist should identify it. I say a trained, meaning someone who knows Cattleya very well and knows lueddemaniana... there are many "hybrids" around who has been labelled as lueddemaniana and even have won AOS prices as such!

There is character used to correctly ID a lueddemaniana and is two horns that should be in the column near the pollinia (but I must admit I do not very well where to find them or what they look like!), these are apparently only to be found in lueddemaniana and do not appear in the hybrids!

Thank you, Molly and Ramon. You said it all much better than I did, but you are exactly right.

I have received this link, where you can read the reference to the "horns" and see them in a photo... Funnily, there is a photo of a C. lueddemmaniana there that has exactly those light centrallines in the petals, which I had never seen before in this spcies and which I mentionned in my first comment too...

https://lab.troymeyers.com/flasking/....php?id=MC1522

Ok... this is the one that I've found and that I've said above looks exactly as mine...
Cattleya lueddemanniana... | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
It says: Cattleya Lueddemanniana 'Buddy x var alba'

BTW... I'm not in the mood of a taxonomist cause I'm not "that" advanced. LOL. I'm just a simple guy with some orchids that I want to ID if is possible.
Just to start my collection "the right way".
=)

The think to bear in mind is "is the person who posted the photo in your link 100% sure of the ID". If you don't know them you can't be certain, and therefore without being an expert yourself you can't be certain of the ID on yours.

Also is there a feature which cannot be seen in that photo which is key to the distinction and ID of the plant.

If it were my plant I would tag it as 'C. lueddemanniana?' and if ever posting pictures online I would always make it clear that I was not certain of the ID, or just say that it was a 'lueddemanniana like' orchid.

Remember, if you post your pictures with the name lueddemanniana in the future then someone else could do like you and look at the picture and think "that's exactly what mine looks like" and yet yours is not 100% certain.

I always name and tag all my orchids, because like you I just want to start my collection "the right way". However the responsible thing to do is to always put a marker on the tag to remember the ID is not 100% and to make sure you state that when displaying the plant or pictures of the plant.

They are telling you to start your collection "the right way" if it doesn't have a tag you call it a NOid. There is nothing wrong with having a NOid the only reason you need a name is to show or reproduce and that is where the trouble begins.

I was upset when I was first told I had a NOid, but now that I have learned more and my collection has grown I realize the important of what they are saying. We all have several NOids and are proud of them and rally when they flower.

Well put Carol :nod:

Thanks Carol and Rosie...
That's the kind of input that I was expecting. But when I read the "taxonomist" thing, I was like: "what..?" This is way too technical...
I like the idea of Rosie (identify that isn't 100% sure) and the simplicity of the answer of Carol (just tag it as noid and that's it, that's not wrong...) hahaha
Now, I know the other answers and help are right (technically), it's only that I'll just be satisfied with a more simple answer.
Thanks to all anyway.
I've decided to tag it as a Noid.

Good orchidoholic!

LOL..! hahahaha