Cattleya walkeriana alba 'Limerick'AM/AOS

[Halloamey]

I don't quite agree with that, in Cattleyas at least it has got nothing to do with the health. No Catt. other than walkeriana and nobilor can flower from the rhizome however healthy they are. Also what you see in this picture is not a flower held on a pseudobulb, it is infact a special growth for the bloom, it is common to have leaf like small appendages on these growths, but it will not grow much, also I am not sure if that growth will plump up like a pesudobulb. May be you can take pictures of this after a few months and then compare or someone more experienced can chime in.

nope.
I have found that other species supposed to flower from the rhizome on special flowering growths do so only intermittently ; I recently had another ( different- can't remember which ) species with three spikes ; two from sheaths on top of the bulbs, one from a specialist growth at the base . Subsequently I had three new growths - one of them from the specialist growth.
My conclusion is that a specialist growth is no such thing. It is simply that with some species, if the plant is sufficiently strong to be able to flower without bothering to make a bulb first it will do so.....It is logical that a seedling flowering for the first time would not be in that category.

[Germinatorman]

Geoff, so beautiful. Does it have any scent? Those faint colors on the tips of the lateral sepals are really cool. I hate to bring this up, but it looks like you had one of those sweet little long tailed mealy bugs on that pedicel. Suspect there is some tempting juice oozing out of there somewhere. Personally,I am experimenting with imidacloprid dosing for those little fellas. Great results so far but variable depending on manufacturer/brand.

[Dorsetman]

No Catt. other than walkeriana and nobilor can flower from the rhizome however healthy they are. .

I'll take a p[ic when I can - but C.trianae clearly flowered from the rhizome and then went on to produce a new bulb ( which has since flowered) from that "flowers onl" growth. Maybe it hadn't read the book ( joke)

[Michael Saar]

A small correction- the clonal name is actually 'Limrick', --- vendor information removed - see faqs on posting ---- according to AOS records (Orchids Plus) the award is an HCC. My two cents on the origin of the flower. My belief is that the the flowers, while appearing to originate from the rhizome, originate from the apex of the pseudobulb, if only microscopically.

[Dorsetman]

BTW I have exposed the depths of my ignorance, once again. It dis seem appropriate for a green-flushed cattleya to have a clonal name reflecting an Irish city name ( For those far away , Eire - Southern Ireland as we call it in UK - is "the emerald isle" It certainly is very green, but then, it hardly ever stops raining there. ( I'm only joking , take your tanks off my lawn ).

But my jump to conclusions was entirely wrong. The clonal name is Limrick, not Limerick.