Quote Originally Posted by Dorsetman View Post
I have never seen very tall aurantiacas. The Broughtonia bit ( in Cattleytonias) has disc shaped bulbbs only an inch across, so it seems unliukely that is concerned.
But ther are possibilities hyou may not think of.

I have a copy of Jack Fowlies excellent - incomparable ! book "The Brazilian bifoiliate Cattleyas and their color varieties" in which he relates his findings and experiences in seeking out all of these plants, and all of their varieties too, in the wild. Let me quote one bit about C.bicolor var or perhaps ssp. minasgeraiense .. " at 1500m altitude. These plants frequently have pseudobulbs up to 1.5m high" . That's no typo , he is saying C.bicolor with 5 foot bulbs...

So yopur taller influence could be bicolor, but really, if I was to quote everything in the book, you wouldl realise the difficulties of making guesses based on that particular characteristic alone.
Thank you, Geoff - I am somewhat handicapped by not having my orchid library with me while I'm staying with my parents in FL, but I shall be back in Atlanta in a couple of weeks. I don't have Jack Fowlie's book on Bifoliate Cattleyas, but I am going to remedy that situation today. Perhaps in a few days, I can be as confused as is humanly possible by all the possibilities. Of course, if I had that elusive virtue of patience, I could simply wait for the blooms - but then, that would be very uncharacteristic of me. I shall look up C. bicolor in the meantime.