Beautiful dainty pink flowers
 

Hello,

Could you please help me ID this orchid? It just bloomed (my first S/H success!) and the 1 inch flowers look very dainty. Please find the photos attached.

Thanks in advance!

Sorry, I can't help with the ID but it is quite lovely.

Definitely a Cattleya aliiance hybrid, probably a complex hybrid involving several genera - Broughtonia, Caularthron and Cattleya most likely - possibly Laelia and Guarianthe, maybe more. When I get home and have more resources I might be able to narrow it down. You obviously found conditions it is happy with, but if you want some cultural suggestions compare it to a Cattleytonia or Caulocattleya hybrid.

I agree, looks like it may have some or all of the above mentioned species in it.

Could we get a good picture of the whole plant?

Broughtonia sanguinea or one of its hybrids. Without a tag, ID will remain uncertain, but this ID should be close enough for you to determine how to care for it.

Sure. Here it is.

I keep coming back to the same ideas, and the whole plant picture didn't suggest anything new. Trying to identify an unknown hybrid almost always comes down to speculation, but we can start with some (at least nearly certain) facts.

The flower most closely resembles Broughtonia sanguinea, but it is not that species. The lip is too small and square, and would not have the fine speckles in the throat. The plant would be shorter and the ends of the leaves would be more rounded. The spike is probably too short. There is no other species it could be either. So, it appears to be a hybrid with Broughtonia sanguinea as an ancestor, probably a parent.

In a small Cattleya alliance hybrid, that speckling in the throat almost certainly comes from Caularthron bicornutum ancestry. Most hybrids with Caularthron bicornutum ancestry also have Laelia albida ancestry through their hybrid, Caulaelia Snowflake.

Everything about this flower and plant would be consistent with a hybrid with Caulaelia Snowflake ancestry. Caulaelia Snowflake x Broughtonia sanguinea would probably look much like this, but that hybrid has not been registered, and I can't find a picture of anything similar.

So, this is a hybrid and it possibly has those 3 species in its background, and Broughtonia sanguinea ancestry is almost certain. Not really an identification though, just a thought.

That is or has Broughtonia sanguinea.