1- CATTLEYA xJoaquiniana
Miranda
Considering this is the launching of the site, I
decided to include something showy to exemplify what can be expected to be found here. As the description of new
entities or TAXA (genera,
species, natural hybrids, etc.) is usually quite boring for non-taxonomists, I am skipping the more technical aspects
and just having comments about each one. I hope readers will appreciate this approach.
There are numerous natural hybrids between Cattleya species, and these are especially numerous in Brazil for the obvious reason that the majority
of species of the Genus are native from this Country. Most of the expected combinations between SYMPATRIC Cattleya species have already been found and described in the past,
but there are a few notable exceptions. Among them there is this very recently described one.
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- It is very easy to guess the parents of this natural
hybrid. Color is mostly as in Cattleya
walkeriana, but with shiny C. bicolor texture and spotting. Sepals as in Cattleya bicolor,
petals quite intermediate.
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Photo: Joaquim B. Carneiro
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Cattleya x joaquiniana is a hybrid between C. bicolor
and C. walkeriana. Interestingly, this hybrid is expected to be quite common
because the two species occur together in an extensive area and are extremely plentiful. However, seems that it
has not been found before despite some growers have been looking for it for more than twenty years in some cases.
Among these relentless orchid enthusiasts is Joaquim Barreto Carneiro, from Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais State.
Considering his importance as a grower and the fact that he found the plant and gave me all the habitat information,
it was a great pleasure to honor him with the name of this hybrid. Since he was living in the town of Itaúna,
same State, he has been growing both species and collected this particular plant as a seedling among a batch of
Cattleya bicolor about twenty years ago. The plant started to look as a lousy
grower throughout the years (considering he thought of it as Cattleya bicolor)
and it was forgotten in a corner of the greenhouse for more than 10 years. Surprisingly, it bloomed, and ended
up being not Cattleya bicolor or anything else for that matter. As it was not identifiable,
it was again forgotten in a corner of the greenhouse although it bloomed every year since then. It was not until
two years ago that my friend and collaborator Kleber Garcia de Lacerda saw it in bloom and brought it to my attention.
And then, all of a sudden a gap in the knowledge about the Genus Cattleya was
filled. Looking at the plant and the flowers, there is no question about the hybrid nature of the plant and the
two parent involved in the making. The plant is intermediate in size and shape between the two parents, and especially
the slightly elliptical and multisegmented pseudobulbs are almost exactly intermediate. For the flowers, just look
at the picture. It is very interesting, however, that only one plant of this hybrid has been found. Both Cattleya walkeriana and C. bicolor are among the most plentiful species of the genus and also,
as I said, they have very large superimposing distribution patterns. Also, they frequently occur together up to
the same tree, ruling out a SEGREGATION
of habitat. The flowering season goes from December to January for Cattleya bicolor
and generally from April to September for C.
walkeriana. So, there is a wide flowering
season separation, but this proved not to be a problem for the making of several other natural hybrids. In this
case, however, seems to be the strongest possibility.
UPDATE: A few days ago, after this page was finished, I received a note from Kleber that another
plant of this hybrid has been identified. In this case, seems that the flowers are not spotted. I will post a picture
as soon as available.
