Eventually, of course, the mists of the cloud forest lifted and the tropical sun shone down and the large-flowered Cattleya species emerged as a normal group of exceptionally beautiful orchids.

John Lindley used the term “labiata” to call attention to the large labellum of the first Cattleya species, and the labellum is perhaps the most notable feature of the large-flowered Cattleya species. Each species has a characteristic color pattern in the labellum that makes it different from the other species. Most plants of a species will exhibit variations of this typical color pattern and this can be a useful guide to identifying the species. The pictures accompanying this article show the classic lip patterns for each of the 17 large-flowered species. It should be remembered, however, that these typical lip patterns are not the only patterns that occur in these species. There is enough variation that an occasional plant of one species can look exactly like another based on lip color alone, so lip pattern is only a general guide. Alba forms are an extreme example of this phenomenon because they all have white sepals and petals with orange or yellow-throated labellums. Other characteristics are needed to separate the species, and these are not the typical structural or color patterns normally used by botanists. Only C. dowiana with its yellow sepals and petals and C. maxima with its yellow stripe down the center of the lip have unique color patterns, and only Cattleya lueddemanniana with its wing-tipped column has a unique structure. All the rest have no real color or structural differences that are exclusively theirs.

FLOWERING SEASON Women have always enjoyed wearing flowers for social occasions and when the large-flowered Cattleya species became plentiful enough, cattleyas become the flower of choice for lady’s corsages. Cattleyas had large, showy flowers with good lasting qualities. They came in lovely shades of lavender, yet no two looked alike — an important quality in the reception line or the spring ball.

Cattleyas also have a thin, delicate substance that is very feminine. They appeared so fragile that they seemed to say “look but do not touch.” They also had one advantage over all other orchids — they were available year round.

One of the driving forces behind florists’ desire to promote Cattleya flowers in corsages during the 1930s and 1940s was the remarkable characteristic of the large-flowered Cattleya species to flower at different times of the year. Lindley’s C. labiata flowered in the autumn. Hooker’s C. mossiae flowered in the spring. Reichenbach’s C. warscewiczii flowered in the summer, and Linden’s C. trianaei flowered in the winter. As a group, the large-flowered Cattleya species were in flower all the time, and customers could expect to buy them whenever they wanted.

Eight of the most abundant of the Cattleya species became the primary flowers of the cut-flower industry because together they covered the whole year. Cattleya labiata dominated the autumn season, followed by Cattleya percivaliana in December. Then came Cattleya trianaei and Cattleya schroederae in January and February. Cattleya mossiae began blooming in late February and did not stop until almost June, when Cattleya gaskelliana appeared. Late June and July were Cattleya warscewiczii season and Cat-tleya dowiana rounded out the year in August.

The flowering seasons of these large-flowered Cattleya species were also unbelievably reliable, when you looked at individual clones. Once established in temperate areas like the United States or Europe, any given clone would rebloom at exactly the same time each year. We have a C. mossiae ‘Mrs. J.T. Butterworth’, FCC/AOS, for example, that flowers for us on Mother’s Day, the second weekend in May. We have had the plant for 50 years and it has never failed to flower on that day in all that time. Our other clones of C. mossiae also flower at specific times during the spring. Several clones of C. percivaliana always flower for Christmas, and our C. trianaei ‘Party Time’ always flowers so my wife can wear it to a New Year’s Eve party. You can tell when a holiday is coming by going into the greenhouse to see what is about to bloom. It is a veritable cattleya calendar.

The distinct flowering season of each of the large-flowered Cattleya species is also a characteristic with considerable botanical significance. It is as much a basic characteristic of the plant as the shape of the labellum, and, combined with lip pattern, can often establish the plant’s identity. Flowering season and other dynamic features, including growth and flowering cycles and fragrance, have been overlooked by botanists in describing these plants. Botanists forget that herbarium specimens give only a limited, static picture of these plants. The dynamic elements of the living plants are also essential to describing them completely.

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