Cattleya Orchids

In the past year, I’ve had the chance to photograph some spectacular cattleya orchids. I was looking back through some of my unedited photos and found several photos of various cattleya orchids that I hadn’t shared yet. Since the Longwood Gardens 2010 orchid show started this week, and the 2010 orchid show at the U.S. Botanical Gardens starts early next month, I figured I’d better get some of the current cattleya orchid photos posted.

Cattleya orchids are native to Central and South America. The genus of 42 species is known for it’s large showy flowers. The flowers usually have 3 narrow sepals and 3 broader petals. Frequently one of the three petals is larger than the others with various markings and patterns.

Cattelya orchid – Mem. Jack Kuser Jr

Two of the orchids I photographed are Laeliocattleya orchids. These orchids originally were descended from cattelya and laelio orchids. In recent years, many of the the laeliocattleya orchids have been reclassified as cattleya orchids.

Laeliocattelya orchid – Gold Digger

Laeliocattelya orchid – Thaddeus Napp

One of the orchids is a Sophrolaeliocattelya orchid. The sophrolaeliocattelyas are a hybrid of sophronitis, lealia and cattelya orchids. The flowers of the sophrolaeliocattelya orchids tend to be in the yellow-orange range.

Sophrolaeliocattelya orchid – Rosemary Clooney ‘Nanae’

And finally one Cattleytonia orchid. Cattleytonia orchids are a hybrid of cattleya and broughtonia orchids.

Cattleytonia orchid – Capria – a cross between Ctna. Jamaica Red and C. Intermedia var aquinii

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