Cattleya Orchid

Cattleya -ˈkætliːə-[2] is a genus of 113 species of orchids from Costa Rica and the Lesser Antilles south to Argentina.[1] The genus was named in 1824 by John Lindley after William Cattley[3] who received and was the first to bloom a specimen of Cattleya labiata. William Swainson had discovered the new plant in Pernambuco, Brazil, in 1817 and shipped to the Glasgow Botanic Gardens for identification. Swainson requested that a few plants be later sent to Cattley, who was able to bloom one a full year before the plants in Glasgow. It would be another 70 years before they would be rediscovered in the wild because of a mixup in the assumed location of the plants.

They are widely known for their large, showy flowers, and were used extensively in hybridization for the cut-flower trade until the 1980s when pot plants became more popular. The flowers of the hybrids can vary in size from 5 cm to 15 cm or more. They occur in all colors except true blue and black.
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