Pretty picture: Laeliocattleya Natrisiri

This was one of the more impressive (to me) orchids from this year's show. The others were Cattleya-types as well, which is notable mostly because I'm usually more impressed with the lady-slipper (Phragmipedium and Paphiopedilum) types.

I couldn't find any results for this plant in the orchid registry or on Google, so either the name is misspelled, or this is one of those rare cases where a thing exists but has for some reason not made it to the internet yet. Considering this show's history with spelling, I'm betting on the first option.

Pretty picture: Laeliocattleya Christian Starr 'Aloha'

The tag said "Laeliocattleya Christian Star 'Aloha.'" Which is of course wrong, though only barely: there should be two Rs in "Starr."

As errors go, this is minor. Doesn't change the pronunciation, and it'd be just as easy to find in most alphabetical databases, so I was prepared to forgive it.



However, the tag also said "C. baud[*]bec x Lc. Memoria Robert Strait," where the [*] part is something that was either indecipherable or covered up by a leaf or something. Which is a problem, because it's not Cattleya baud[e]bec, a species; it's Cattleya Caudebec, a grex. And that is just careless.

Since spelling the cross out wasn't actually necessary, and a determined searcher could still find all this out easily enough from the information provided, though, I'll count it as only half-wrong.

Why not? Tis the season! Holiday spirit of forgiveness and everything!

wrong tags: 8.5
incomplete tags: 1
missing tags: 11

For what it's worth, I sort of like what the flower's attempting to do here, though I wish it didn't have quite as many stray spots of purple, and restricted the color to the veins a bit better. Coordinates well with the current blog background, though. I'll give it a thumbs-up. Tidings of comfort and joy, yo.

Pretty picture: Laeliocattleya Crownfox Sweetheart 'Paradise'

This is awfully close to what I picture in my head when I talk about the flowers from Cattleya alliance crosses, even if the lip is not all that frilly. I'm especially pleased with the light purple lines down the center of the petals and sepals: it's a nice touch. I'd like this a lot less if the petals and sepals were pure white.

I did Google, but didn't come up with a whole lot of interest about this one. Two sites sell it: one site sells this plant in Canada for $30 Canadian, plus $10-20 shipping; another site sells the same plant in the U.S. for $17.50 plus $10 shipping plus maybe more; it's kind of unclear how the shipping works on the second place. The flower is supposedly very fragrant, but I wouldn't know: this was eight months ago, and I couldn't get close enough to most of the flowers in the show to detect a fragrance.

The parentage is Laeliocattleya Memoria Robert Strait x Cattleya walkeriana; I couldn't find the parentage of Lc. Memoria Robert Strait, though I also didn't look very hard.

Pretty picture: Laeliocattleya Fire Dance 'Patricia'

I really like this one. Possibly it's the color. Most of the photos from Google show flowers that are more orange and less red than this, but it wouldn't be the first time a particular orchid specimen was different from the way the variety normally looks, due to differences in care or whatever. And the lighting was, as I've noted before, bad that day.

I had this identified as Rhynchosophrocattleya Firedance 'Patricia' originally, and that's still what the file name says, but looking around for information on it, I got hits for Lc. Fire Dance 'Patricia' instead. A lot of the orchids at the show were mislabeled in subtle ways (letters transposed, things spelled as two words instead of one or vice-versa, obsolete names), so this is presumably an example of that, but I don't know which name is wrong in this case. Doesn't really matter, though. It's a pretty flower. Makes me happy to look at it. That's good enough.

Pretty picture: Laeliocattleya Gold Digger 'Buttercup'

It's not my favorite color, granted, but it's hard to dislike a Cattleya Alliance flower.


I Googled to see if I could find anything interesting about this particular plant, but nothing jumped out at me, so I guess that's all you get.

Pretty picture: Laeliocattleya Cluster Fire 'Cinnabon'

Can't think of a lot to say about Lc. Cluster Fire 'Cinnabon:' I usually like members of the Cattleya alliance, and I usually like orange flowers (it is a nice color), but this one leaves me a bit cold. I think it's the shape I'm having trouble with: it all looks a little pinched to me. Puckered. Restricted.


It may be me. It's probably me. I write up these orchid posts in batches, when inspiration strikes (I'm writing this on 2 July 2010.), and this is the fifth post I've written in the last few hours. So possibly the problem is that it just doesn't compare well with August 9th's Miltoniopsis, or with other Cattleya alliance orchids I've seen pictures of today. Maybe I just didn't take very good photos. Maybe I should stop writing orchid posts now before I completely lose it. I dunno.

EDITED TO ADD: Had to move this up a day, because I'm having trouble with the post I'd wanted to post today, and instead of sitting home dutifully working on the problematic post, the husband, Sheba and I all went to Cedar Rapids and I bought plants. But one of the plants is really, really cool.

Pretty picture: Laeliocattleya Rojo x Cattleya aurantiaca

The pictures that come up for Laeliocattleya Rojo look an awful lot like this (example), and that same page also lists the parentage of Laeliocattleya Rojo as Cattleya aurantiaca x Laelia milleri. So this is supposedly (Cattleya aurantiaca x Laelia milleri) x Cattleya aurantiaca. I get why one might want to recross with one of the parent species, in general, but I'm confused about why one would want to recross in this specific case, since Lc. Rojo is already such a nice-looking plant. And the cross doesn't even appear to have changed much of anything, at least not to my (admittedly inexpert) eyes.

Pretty, though, in any case. I didn't wind up coveting many of the orchids at the show, but this is one I wouldn't mind having, assuming that I could grow it and have it flower and stuff. I think we're still a ways away from that point. But maybe someday.

Random plant event: Lc. Tropical Pointer 'Cheetah' flowers

I don't know what the name of this plant is. I mean, there was a tag with it, and the tag said "Lc. Tropical Pointer 'Cheetah' BM/JOGA," but I don't know what any of that actually means or signifies. From poking around this site a while, I gather that Lc. has something to do with the actual species or genus of orchids involved, and 'Cheetah' is the name of this particular cross, but I'm not sure where the rest of it fits in. If anybody wants to explain in the comments, that'd be peachy. (UPDATE: see end of post.)



But even if you don't know anything about them, the flowers are still pretty.

I have problems sometimes when customers ask me about orchids, because if they need anything beyond really basic care instructions, I'm completely lost. I've never had one, and although I think some of them are fall-over gorgeous, I don't especially want one, either, though I've seen a few with patterned leaves that I would have considered had they not been outrageously expensive. 'Cheetah' is one of a handful of orchids that have really caught my attention.

For those of you who can do the 3-D stereoviews thing (like a Magic Eye picture; you have to cross your eyes until the two images overlap, and then wait until your brain works out the 3-D-iness of the combination. If you're finding it too difficult to cross your eyes that much, back away from the monitor until you can.), here you go:



UPDATE: From shiver and alenka in the comments --

Lc. = "Laeliocattleya," = Laelia x Cattleya

Tropical Pointer = generic term for any cross between a Laeliocattleya Tropic Glow and a Cattleya Intermedia.

'Cheetah' = the particular name given to this clone (as not all Tropical Pointers are going to get the same combination of genes from the cross).

JOGA = Japanese Orchid Growers' Association, which I'm going to just assume is some kind of association, that you have to be a Japanese orchid grower to get into.

BM = Bronze Medalist, presumably from a JOGA competition held in the semi-recent past.

Q.v. the glossary at Beautifulorchids.com.

Thanks so much, shiver and alenka.