Curtis's Botanical Magazine

Large-Flowered Cattleya Species

The Queen of the Orchid World Spreads Her Wings to Cover the Whole Year

 

C. trianaei

When a vagabond plant collector named William Swainson sent a bundle of strange lavender-flowered plants thought to be parasitic to the Glasgow Botanic Garden in 1817, he opened the door to a flood of excitement that would engulf the horticultural world for the rest of the century.

Cattleya quadricolor

Cattleya quadricolorfirst appeared in Europe in 1848 when an English orchid grower named Rucker received a single plant from a friend traveling in Colombia. When the plant flowered in 1849, Rucker sent the flowers to the botanist John Lindley, asking him what it was. The only large-flowered Cattleyaspecies known at the time were Cattleya. labiata and Cattleya mossiae, and Lindley thought the flowers Rucker sent were different enough from these two species to mention the plant in an article he wrote for Paxton’s Flower Garden.

Cattleya crispa (Laelia)

The Sleeping Giant

 

Text and Images by A. A. Chadwick

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