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Cattleya maxima

Cattleya maxima is one of the oldest described species of Cattleya.  Lindley described C. maxima in 1831, after describing the first Cattleya, C. labiata, in 1821.  Four additional bifoliate Cattleya (each pseudobulb usually produces 2 leaves) were described between these two species.  Although it was the second described unifoliate (single-leaf) Cattleya, it was the first species discovered in this genus.  Spanish botanists sent the herbarium specimen of C. maxima in 1777, but nothing was done to the specimen for over 50 years.  Chadwick and Chadwick (2006) contains the details of the history of the discovery, disappearance, and re-discovery of this beautiful species.  You can also read the story in their web site (link).

Some unifoliate Cattalya are difficult to identify because they look similar.  But C. maxima is relatively easy to recognize due to the unique floral feature, the yellow stripe in the middle of the lip.  This feature is generally observed in the several color forms including alba form.  This species can be found in Colombia, Peru and Ecuador in altitude of 500 to 1400m (Braem 1986)

There are two vegetatively distinct types within the specie as shown in the photo above.  The plant on the left is much taller (pseudobulb length of 35cm and leaf length of 22cm) than the right plant (pseudobulb length of 10cm and leaf length of 18cm).  The tall morph is considered to be a lowland type, and the shorter morph is considered to be an upland type (Withner 1987).  In addition to the vegetative difference, the lowland type generally have more flowers per inflorescence.  Mine had only 5 flowers, but 12-15 flowers can appear on the lowland type.

I purchased these two plants from a SlipperTalk member in 2016, so I do not know the history of my plants. The shorter form has the crossing info: 'Königin Silvia' SM/DOG x 'Hsinying'.  Searching the internet, I found several version of spelling of the first parent; 'Koningen', 'Koenigin' or 'Königin' for the first part, and 'Sylvia', 'Sylva', or 'Silvia' for the second part.  I was not sure which one is the correct spelling.  But a SlipperTalk member, Guldal from Denmark, gave me useful information about he correct spelling.  It was an awarded individual, SM/DOG, which means Silver Medal from Deutsche Orchideen-Gesellschaft (German Orchid Society), so the name is likely to be in German. Then 'Königin' means Queen.  So it is likely to be named after Queen Silvia of Sweden, so the correct clonal name is likely to be  Cattleya maxima fma. alba 'Königin Silvia' SM/DOG.  The second parent, 'Hsinying', is a grex which is frequently used by Ching Hua Orchids (but I heard that In-Charm Orchids could use this grex, too?), and they had this cross listed in their 2016 price list, so it might be the origin of my plant.  I believe that 'Hsinying' is same as Xinying, which is a district within Tainan City, Taiwan, where Ching Hua Orchids is located.

Interestingly, I've seen a web forum post saying that both parents were supposed to be alba form, but the offspring didn't become alba, which is consistent with mine.  This kind of reverting back to the wild-type is genetically possible, for example if the alba allele is reccesive to the wild-type, and two alba parents are caused by two different kinds of mutations.  Many genes are involved in the pigment production, and a mutation in one of many genes can result in alba by disrupting the pigment production.  In other words, two parents looked superficially similar (alba) but they were different at the genetic level.

One thing I noticed this year is that these two plants of mine have distinctly different fragrance.  The tall form has somewhat pleasing fragrance, but the short form has rather unpleasant, stinky fragrance.  I'm not sure if this is one of the general characteristics associated with the lowland vs upland types.

Both plants are robust growers, and they both make plenty of roots.  But the short type flowers less frequently.  I grow them along the south facing window, supplemented with artificial light.  In Fairbanks, Alaska, we do not have plenty of sun light in the winter, so the artificial light becomes the dominant light source in the winter.  As seen in the first photo, they both show sun-burned leaves from the time when they became too close to LED light.  Chadwick and Chadwick recommend different night temperature for the upland and lowland forms.  The night temperature of 58F and 65F are recommended for the upland and lowland forms, respectively.  I used to place them in two separate rooms.  But I now place them in the same room, which is kept at the cool-end of intermediate temperature.

The flowers shown below is from the short, upland form, 'Königin Silvia' SM/DOG x 'Hsinying'.  It had 2 inflorescences with 2 and 1 flowers.  The upland form is supposed to have more intense color than the upland form.  But this one was paler than the lowland form, which can be seen in the photo shown in the beginning of this post.  I wonder if this is because the parents were the alba form.


 

This is the tall, lowland form.  This year, it had 2 inflorescnece with 5 and 2 flowers.



The following photos are photos of the same plant (tall plant) from Nov. 3, 2017.  It has grown quite a bit in 4 years.





And these are the photos from the time when I received them (April 2016). The short form was a bit stressed, but it recovered quickly.

tall, lowland form

'Königin Silvia' SM/DOG x 'Hsinying'


A small update of what's going on around here.  In Alaska, Fall is beautiful, but it is short.  We can still see yellow leaves, but they are starting to fall now.  It is starting to frost at night, and we'll see snow pretty soon.  We enjoyed a beautiful day sitting along Tanana river this week-end.  It was the first fishing trip after Taiga turned to 10 years old, but we didn't get even a nibble.  The time passes first, and I can't believe that he is already 10!

We didn't catch a burbot, but we did have fun scooping up these little fish with the landing net.


Then we went to check-out a beaver house along Chena River.  We jumped on their house, trying to wake them up, but they didn't come out.

 

Litterature Cited:

  • Braem, G. J.  1986. Cattleya, Band II: Die unifoliaten (einblättrigen) Cattleyen (The Unifoliate Cattleyas). Brücke-Verlag Kurt Schmersow, Germany.
  • Chadwick, A. A. and A. E. Chadwick. 2006. The Classic Cattleyas. Timber press, Oregon, USA.
  • Withner, C. L. 1988. The Cattleyas and Their Relatives, Volume 1. The Cattleyas.  Timber Press, Oregon, USA.



 

 

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