Can anyone help identify this Cattelya?

[eeyore]

This is the first time this has bloomed for me after having bought it last year in March at the Hong Kong Flower Show. I bought it without flowers and it didn't have a tag so I'm not sure what it is and would appreciate if anyone can help to identify it...

[eeyore]

Close up...

[Orquiadicto]

I'm afraid I can't identify it, but it's beautiful. Congrats on blooming this and thanks for sharing. I hope you get an ID so I can look out for one as well.

[kspalding]

I couldn't tell you a name-not even sure if there is one. One thing I can say is that it is not only a hybrid but also a clone....both these factors cause the planty to be more sensitive to grow.

[Ron-NY]

I couldn't tell you a name-not even sure if there is one. One thing I can say is that it is not only a hybrid but also a clone....both these factors cause the planty to be more sensitive to grow.

Kim why do you think it is a clone and what would make a clone easier to grow?

It is very pretty. Congrats on blooming it!!

[kspalding]

The size and shape of the center. I have seen many of this type (never with tags) and the originals seem to start at the top slightly more narrow before it gets ruffles. As for easier, bah, I said harder. Just like with crossbreeds, clones are more sensitive to grow. Once grown though they seem to withstand more in regards to climate.

[lijun]

need to have some type of hybrid name generator software, insert picture and get all the info.....

[LiveLaughGrowOrchids]

That's stunningly beautiful!! I used to think there's nothing prettier than my Phal wow! There's so much out there! Congrats! And thanks for sharing!

[kdennis14]

It is very beautiful, no matter what the Sam Hill it is. I love it.
Karen

[PaphMadMan]

I couldn't tell you a name-not even sure if there is one. One thing I can say is that it is not only a hybrid but also a clone....both these factors cause the planty to be more sensitive to grow.

Kim why do you think it is a clone and what would make a clone easier to grow?

The size and shape of the center. I have seen many of this type (never with tags) and the originals seem to start at the top slightly more narrow before it gets ruffles. As for easier, bah, I said harder. Just like with crossbreeds, clones are more sensitive to grow. Once grown though they seem to withstand more in regards to climate.

Let me see if there is anything in there I can agree with... Yes, it is a hybrid. No Cattleya alliance species looks like that.

Clone? Probably, just because most mass market plants are clones, because selected clones are easier to grow because you only choose to clone the easy ones. Also predictable and pretty uniformly good. When you grow seedlings some just won't be very attractive, and they won't grow and mature uniformly as you need a mass market crop to, and that wastes money - something commercial growers can not afford to do.

Hybrids more sensitive? Some primary hybrids can be touchy because of genetic mis-match between the parents. Some specialty hybrids can be difficult to grow because they descend from difficult to grow species, and the breeding goals don't always involve ease of growth. But a complex hybrid chosen for mass production (like this one) will always be the easiest thing to grow because that makes it the most profitable thing to grow. At every generation of breeding there is selection for easily grown healthy plants, and the complex hybrids tend to lose most of the hard to satisfy needs of some species.

Recognizing a clone because of the shape of the lip? In most cases clones will be indistinguishable from the original plant, subject to the same natural variation you would see among an equally large population of divisions of the mother plant grown under the same conditions. One plant can be quite variable from year to year, one environment to another. Clones will be just as variable, but if cloning didn't give mostly plants identical to the original it wouldn't be economically viable to do it.


Now, back to the plant in question. Here I agree again. It will not be possible to get a positive identification for your Cattleya hybrid unless there is some clue from the grower. There are dozens of registered hybrids of this general type, with every seedling being different, and it is very likely that yours is an un-named clone of an un-registered hybrid.