Cattleya mendelii O Brien 1883 Subgen Cattleya sec Cattleya Lindley Photo courtesy of Jay Pfahl

to LATE

Common Name Mendel's Cattleya [English Orchid Enthusiast 1800's]

Flower Size 7" to 8" [17.5 to 20 cm]

A medium sized, cool to warm growing epiphytic and lithophytic species from the eastern Cordillera of the Colombian Andes on exposed rock outcroppings and cliffs with cylindrical, grooved, shiney pseudobulbs that carrys a single, apical, oblong, very leathery leaf that is round apically that blooms in the late spring on a terminal, short, few [2 to 5] flowered, long lived inflorescence with fragrant, long-lived flowers that open well.

Synonyms Cattleya bluntii H.Low 1876; Cattleya cupidon hort. 1894; Cattleya labiata var. bella Rchb.f 1882;Cattleya labiata var. mendelii Sanders 1886; Cattleya mendelii var. morganae (R.Warner & L.O.Williams) Braem 1986

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; The Catttleya and their Relatives Withner Vol 1 1988; Encyclopedia of Cultivated Orchids Hawkes 1987 as C labiata var mendelii; Manual of Orchids Stewart 1995; Manual of Cultivated Orchids Bechtel; Cribb & Laurent 1982; Native Colombian Orchids Vol 1 COS 1990; Orchids of Malaya Holttum 1957; Growing Orchids Vol 2 Rentoul 1982; An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Orchids Pridgeon 1982; Flora's Orchids Nash & La Croix 2005; Colombian Cattleyas and their Color Variations Toulemonde 2002

Cattleya mendelii O Brien 1883 var coerula Photo courtesy of Jay Pfahl

A blue color variety of the previous species.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------