C. walkeriana fma. alba PHOTO
I was getting fed up with this one, hadn't bloomed in a couple years but was growing like a weed. For some reason the flowers only lasted a week or two, I think it decided to start its rest period early.
Native to Brazil, Cattleya walkeriana is a very compact species that may only reach 6-8" in height at maturity. The large flowers, however, can be up to 4" or more in spread, and are sweetly fragrant as well. C. walkeriana shares an interesting trait with C. nobilior - the flowers are almost always produced at the top of a leafless growth which, after blooming, looks like a small aborted pseudobulb. In the case of walkeriana, there may be a small fleshy leaf on the flowering growth that persists after blooming. The next new growth then arises from the base of this blooming growth. Because of this rambling habit, walkeriana is particularly well-suited to a hanging basket or a mount. If it must be grown in a pot, a coarse medium must be used to compensate for the larger pots required to contain the growths. C. walkeriana generally blooms in late winter to early spring, but may bloom again in the fall with good culture.
C. walkeriana can be distinguished from C. nobilior by its unifoliate habit and the splayed-out side lobes of the lip, which leave the column exposed to the lateral view. In contrast, C. nobilior is bifoliate and the side lobes tend to wrap around the column, thereby hiding it from the lateral view. One example of the confusion between the two species is the widely-available clone 'Pendentive' AM/AOS, which is labeled as "walkeriana var. alba". While flowers of this clone have outstanding size and form, the growths are variably unifoliate and bifoliate, and many consider 'Pendentive' to be a hybrid between walkeriana and nobilior.
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