Cattleya


Cattleya is a genus of orchids from Costa Rica south to Argentina. The genus is abbreviated C in trade journals.

Description

or terrestrial orchids with cylindrical rhizome from which the fleshy noodle-like roots grow. Pseudobulbs can be conical, spindle-shaped or cylindrical; with upright growth; one or two leaves growing from the top of them. The leaves can be oblong, lanceolate or elliptical, somewhat fleshy, with smooth margin. The inflorescence is a terminal raceme with few or several flowers. Flowers have sepals and petals free from each other; the lip or labellum, usually has a different coloration and shape from the rest of the flower and covers in part the flower column forming a tube. There are four polliniums. The fruit is a capsule with many small seeds.

Taxonomy

The genus was named in 1824 by John Lindley after horticulturalist William Cattley. Cattley obtained a specimen of then unnamed Cattleya labiata from William Swainson who had discovered the new plant in Pernambuco, Brazil, in 1817. The plant successfully bloomed under the care of Cattley and it became the type specimen from which Lindley described C. labiata.
Currently accepted species and subgeneric division within genus Cattleya are:

Subgenus Cattleya

Section Cattleya

Series Cattleyodes
Series Hadrolaelia
Series Microlaelia
Series Parviflorae
Series Sophronitis

Section Lawrenceanae

Subgenus Cattleyella

ImageNameDistributionElevation
C. araguaiensisBrazil395 - 610 meters

Subgenus Intermediae

Subgenus Maximae

ImageNameDistributionElevation
C. maximaVenezuela to Peru10 - 1500 meters

Natural hybrids

Currently accepted natural hybrids are:
Hybrids of Cattleya and other genera are placed in the following nothogenera: