Cattleya aurantiaca [Bateman ex Lindley]P.N. Don 1840 SUBGENUS Circumvola SECTION Aurantiacae Withner 1989

Photo by © Jay Pfahl

Yellow flower Form

Photo by © Patricia Harding

Flowering plant in situ, Central Mexico

Photo by © Eduoard Faria.

Drawing

Drawing by © Bateman

Cattleya aurantiaca [Bateman ex Lindley]P.N.Don var alba 1840

Photo courtesy of David Hunt

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Common Name Orange Cattleya

Flower Size 1" [2.5 cm]

Found in Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Costa Rica at elevations of 300 to 1600 meters in tropical and lower mountain rain forests on exposed rocks, or on trees in areas of extreme heat and cold as a stout, small to medium sized, hot to cool growing epiphytic and occasional lithophytic species is with elongate, cylindric-fusiform, lightly compressed pseudobulbs carrying 2, apical, coriaceous, fleshy, elliptic to oblong-lanceolate leaves with a rounded, retuse apex that flowers from late winter through spring on a terminal, 6 1/2" [16 cm] long, few to many [2 to 11] flowered, umbelliform inflorescence arising on a mature pseudobulb.

This plant's flowers are the smallest in the genus and northern populations can self-pollinate which causes the flowers to not open fully. This species and C. skinneri naturally hybrid to create C. guatemalensis.

Synonyms Amalia aurantiaca (Bateman ex Lindl.) Heynh. 1846; Broughtonia aurea Lindl. 1840; *Epidendrum aurantiacum Batem. ex Lindley 1838; Epidendrum aureum Lindley 1853; Guarianthe aurantiaca (Bateman ex Lindl.) Dressler & W.E. Higgins 2003; Laelia aurantiaca (Bateman ex Lindl.) Beer 1854

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ;

Edwards's Bot. Reg. 24(Misc.): 8 Bateman ex Lindley 1838 as Epidendrum aurantiacum;

* Florist's J. 1: 185 P.N.Don 1840;

Edwards's Bot. Reg. 26: t. 19 Lindley 1840 as Brougtonia aurea;

The Orchids of Mexico and Guatemala Bateman 1843 as Epidendrum aurantiacum

The Orchids of Mexico and Guatemala Bateman 1843 as Epidendrum aurantiacum drawing fide;

Alph. Aufz. Gew.: 29 Heynh. 1846 as Amalia aurantiaca;

Fol. Orchid. 3: 4 Lindley 1853 as Epidendrum aurantiacum;

Prakt. Stud. Orchid.: 208 Beer 1854 as Laelia aurantiaca;

Xenia Orchidaceae Rchb.f 1862 as Epidendrum aurantiacum;

Die Orchideen Schlechter 1915;

Orchid Of Guatemala and Belize Ames & Correll 1952;

AOS Bulletin Vol 29 No 2 1960;

AOS Bulletin Vol 29 #5 1960 photo fide;

AOS Bulletin Vol 30 No 9 1961;

Encyclopedia of Cultivated Orchids Hawkes 1965;

AOS Bulletin Vol 36 #7 1967 photo fide;

AOS Bulletin Vol 36 #9 1967;

Orchid Digest Vol 38 No 1 1974 photo fide;

Las Orquedias De El Salvador Hamer vol 1 1974 drawing/photo fide;

Orchideen 3 Auflage Bd 1 Sonderabdruck aus Schlechter Lieferung 10 576 - 632 Brieger, Maatsch and Senghas 1977 photo/drawing fide;

Orchid Digest Vol 42 No 2 1978 photo fide;

AOS Bulletin Vol 49 No 5 1979 photo fide;

Orquídea (Mexico City), n.s., 7[4]: 1980 photo fide;

Orchid Digest Vol 44 No 2 1980;

AOS Bulletin Vol 49 No 6 1980 photo fide;

AOS Bulletin Vol 49 # 6 1980 as C auriantiaca var alba photo fide;

Las Orquideas De El Salvador Vol 3 Hamer 1981 drawing fide;

Growing Orchids Vol 2 Rentoul 1982;

Icones Planetarum Tropicarum Plate 630 Hamer 1982 drawing fide;

An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Orchids Pridgeon 1982;

AOS Bulletin vol 53 no 7 1984 photo fide;

Flora Novo-Galaciana Vol 16 McVaugh 1985;

AOS Bulletin Vol 55 No 1 1986 photo fide;

AOS Bulletin Vol 55 No 1 1986 as C aurantiuaca var alba; photo;

An Introduction to the Orchids of Mexico Wiard 1987 photos fide;

AOS Bulletin Vol 57 #2 1988 photo fide;

Selbyana Vol 10 Orchids of Central America Hamer 1988 drawing fide;

Icones Orchidacearum I Plate 7 Salazar 1990 drawing fide;

The Manual of Cultivated Orchids Bechtel, Cribb and Laurent 1992 photo fide;

AOS Bulletin Vol 62 No 11 1993 photo;

Field Guide to the Orchids of Costa Rica and Panama Dressler 1993;

Manual of Orchids Stewart 1995;

AOS Bulletin Vol 67 No 2 1998 photo fide;

Orchid Digest Vol 62 #2 1998 photo fide;

The Catttleya and Their Relatives Withner Vol 1 1998 photo fide;

Guatemala Y Sus Orquideas Behar & Tinschert 1998 photo fide;

Orchid Digest Vol 63 #2 1999 photo fide;

Harvard Pap. Bot. 5 #2: Carnevali etal 2001;

Orquideas del Estado de Morelos ORQUÍDEA (MÉX.) VOLUMEN 16 NÚMERO ÚNICO enero 2002 drawing/photo fide;

Botanica's Orchids Laurel Glen 2002;

AOS Bulletin Vol 72 No 4 2003 photo;

Lankesteriana 7: 38 Dressler & W E Higgins 2003 sa Guariananthe auriantiaca;

Flora's Orchids Nash & La Croix 2005;

Vanishing Beauty, Native Costa Rican Orchids Vol 1 Pupulin 2005 as Guarianthe auriantiaca photo fide;

The World's Most Beautiful Orchids Allikas & Nash 2005 photo fide;

AOS Bulletin Vol 75 No 5 2006 photo fide;

Miniature Orchids Frownie 2007;

AOS Bulletin Vol 79 #1 2010 photo fide;

AOS Bulletin Vol 80 #6 2011 pollinia only as Guariananthe auriantica photo fide;

Orchid Digest Vol 77 #2 2013 photo fide;

Guia de Orquideas de Chiapas Carlos Rommel Beutelspacher Baigts 2013 as Guarianthe auriantiaca photo good;

Algunas Orquideas de Mexico Tomo 1 Suarez 2013 as Guariananthe aurantiaca photo fide;

AOS Bulletin Vol 83 #4 2014 photo fide;

Orchid Genera and Species in Guatemala Archila, Szlachchetko, Chiron, Lipinska, Mystkowska and Bertolini 2018 as Guariananthe auriatiacus;

AOS Bulletin Vol 88 #5 2019 as Guariananthe aurantiaca photo fide;

AOS Bulletin Vol 89 #11 2020 drawing as Guariananthe aurantiaca fide;

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