Cattleya skinneri Bateman 1839 SUBGENUS Circumvola SECTION Moradae Withner 1989
Photo by © Jay Pfahl
TYPE Drawing by © Bateman
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Common Name Skinner's Cattleya [English Orchid Collector and Trader 1800's] or in Costa Rica - Guaria Morada, in Guatemala - Candelaria, Central America - San Sebastian
Flower Size 3 1/2" [8.75 cm]
From Chiapas state of Mexico to Costa Rica as a medium sized, bifoliate epiphyte where it is found in humid forests on tree trunks and branches or terrestrial-lithophyte on granite cliff banks at altitudes of 200 to 2300 meters with fusiform to clavate pseudobulbs carrying 2, apical, oblong to elliptic, obtuse to acute leaves that blooms in the winter through spring and occasionally in the fall on a terminal, to 5 1/2" [13.75 cm] long, usually erect, few to many [4 to 15] flowered inflorescence arising on a mature pseudobulb and subtended by a large green, spathiform basal sheath and carries slightly fragrant flowers that often open not all at once.
This species likes to be mounted on wood and is a warm to cool growing species and is the national flower of Costa Rica. They like a dry winter rest and will bloom from brown or green sheaths that were formed the summer before.
Synonyms Cattleya laelioides Lem. 1852-3; Cattleya skinneri f. alba (Rchb.f.) Schltr. 1914; Cattleya skinneri var. alba Rchb.f. 1877; Cattleya skinneri var parviflora Hkr. 1856; Epidendrum huegelianum Rchb.f 1862; Guarianthe skinneri (Bateman) Dressler & W.E. Higgins 2003; Guarianthe skinneri f. alba (Rchb.f.) Christenson 2011
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Lankester's Epidendra Website CR ; Lankester's Epidendra Website CR ;
* The Orchidaceae of Mexico and Guatemala t. 13. Bateman 1839;
The Orchidaceae of Mexico and Guatemala t. 13. Bateman 1839 drawing fide;
Ann. Bot. Syst. 6: 31 Rchb.f 1861 as Cattleya huegelianum;
Xenia Orchidaceae Rchb.f 1862 as Epidendrum huegelianum;
Symbolae Antillanae Vol VI Orchidaceae Urban 1909;
Die Orchideen Schlechter 1915;
Orchids of Guatemala and Belize Ames & Correll 1952;
AOS Bulletin Vol 26 #5 1957 photo fide;
AOS Bulletin Vol 26 #8 1957 photo fide;
Orchids of Malaya Holttum 1957;
AOS Bulletin Vol 27 #2 1958 as C deckeri drawing fide;
AOS Bulletin Vol 29 No 2 1960;
AOS Bulletin Vol 29 No 10 1960 photo ok;
AOS Bulletin Vol 30 No 9 1961;
AOS Bulletin Vol 31 No 10 1962 drawing fide;
AOS Bulletin Vol 32 No 8 1963 photo fide;
AOS Bulletin Vol 32 No 10 1963;
Encyclopedia of Cultivated Orchids Hawkes 1965 photo fide;
AOS Bulletin Vol 36 #7 1967 photo fide;
AOS Bulletin Vol 38 #7 1969 postage stamp fide;
Orchid Digest Vol 37 No 4 1973 photo fide;
Las Orquedias De El Salvador Vol 1 Hamer 1974 drawing/photo fide;
Die Orchideen 3 Auflage Bd 1 Sonderabdruck aus Schlechter Lieferung 10 576 - 632 Brieger, Maatsch and Senghas 1977 drawing fide;
Die Orchideen 3 Auflage Bd 1 Sonderabdruck aus Schlechter Lieferung 10 576 - 632 Brieger, Maatsch and Senghas 1977 as C dekeri;
Orchid Digest Vol 42 No 2 1978 photo fide;
AOS Bulletin Vol 48 No 5 1979 photo fide;
Orquídea (Mexico City). 7(4): 1980 photo fide;
Orquideologia Vol 15 #1 Luer & Escobar 1981;
Las Orquideas De El Salvador Vol 3 Hamer 1981 drawing fide;
AOS Bulletin Vol 51 No 9 1982 photo fide;
Icones Planetarum Tropicarum Plate 633 Hamer & Dodson 1982 drawing fide;
Growing Orchids Vol 2 Rentoul 1982;
An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Orchids Pridgeon 1982;
AOS Bulletin vol 53 no 7 1984 photo fide;
An Introdution to the orchids of Mexico Wiard 1987 photo fide;
The Cattleya and their Relatives Withner Vol 1 1988 photo fide;
Selbyana Vol 10 Orchids of Central America Hamer 1988 drawing fide;
Orchids Travel By Air A Pictoral Safari Mulder, Mulder-Roelfsema and Schuiteman 1990 photo fide;
AOS Bulletin Vol 61 No 7 1992 drawing fide;
AOS Bulletin Vol 61 No 9 1992 postage stamp fide;
ORQUIDEA (MEX.) 12(2). FEBRERO 1992 photo fide;
The Manual of Cultivated Orchids Bechtel, Cribb and Laurent 1992 as C deckeri drawing fide;
The Manual of Cultivated Orchids Bechtel, Cribb and Laurent 1992 photo fide;
Icones Planetarum Tropicarum plate 1409 Mora & Atwood 1992 drawing fide;
AOS Bulletin Vol 62 No 5 1993 photo fide;
Field Guide to the Orchids of Costa Rica Dressler 1993;
Orchid Digest Vol 59 No 2 1995 drawing/photo fide;
Manual of Orchids Stewart 1995;
AOS Bulletin Vol 66 No 12 1997 as C skinner var occulata photo fide;
AOS Bulletin Vol 67 No 2 1998 photo fide;
Guatemala Y Sus Orquideas Behar & Tinschert 1998 photo fide;
Orchid Digest Vol 63 #2 1999 photo fide;
Orchid Digest Vol 63 #2 1999 as C skinneri var occulata alba photo fide;
Orchid Digest Vol 63 #2 1999 as C deckeri photo fide;
Botanica's Orchids Laurel Glen 2002;
AOS Bulletin Vol 72 No 4 2003 photo fide;
Flora's Orchids Nash & La Croix 2005; photo;
AOS Bulletin Vol 72 No 6 2003 photo fide;
AOS Bulletin Vol 72 No 8 2003 photo fide;
Lankesteriana 7: 38. 2003 as Guarianthe skinneri;
Manual De Plantas de Costa Rica Volumen 3 Hammel, Grayum, Herrera and Zamora 2003 photo fide;
AOS Bulletin Vol 73 No 6 2004 photo fide;
Vanishing Beauty; Native Costa Rican Orchids Vol 1 Pupulin 2005 as Guarianthe skinneri photo fide;
The World's Most Beautiful Orchids Allikas & Nash 2005 photo fide;
AOS Bulletin Vol 75 No 3 2006 drawing fide;
AOS Bulletin Vol 75 No 6 2006 photo fide;
Orchid Digest Vol 70 #3 2006 as uariananthe skinneri photo fide;
AOS Bulletin Vol 77 No 2 2008 photo fide;
AOS Bulletin Vol 77 #7 2008 photo fide;
Icones Orchidacearum fascile 10 plate 1024 Hagsater & Soto 2008 as Guarianthe skinneri drawing fide;
Orquideologia Vol 26 No 1 2009 photo as Guarianthe skinneri;
AOS Bulletin Vol 78 #6 2009 photo fide;
Orchids of Costa Rica Vol 1 Morales 2009 as Guariananthe skinneri photo fide;
AOS Bulletin Vol 79 #4 2010 as Guariananthe skinneri photo fide;
AOS Bulletin Vol 79 #7 2010 drawing fide;
AOS Bulletin Vol 80 #2 2011 as Guariannthe skinneri photo fide;
AOS Bulletin Vol 80 #4 2011 as Guariananthe skinneri photo fide;
AOS Bulletin Vol 80 #9 2011 as Guariananthe skinneri photo fide;
Orchid Digest Vol 76 #1 2012 photo fide; Orchid Digest Vol 77 #2 2013 as Guariananthe skinneri photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 83 #1 2013 as Guariananthe skineri photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 82 #2 2013 photo fide; Guia de Orquideas de Chiapas Carlos Rommel Beutelspacher Baigts 2013 as Guarianthe skinneri photo good; AOS Bulletin Vol 84 #3 2015 as Guariananthe skinneri photo fide;
AOS Bulletin Vol 85 #4 2016 as Guariananthe skinneri photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 86 #4 2017 drawing as Guariananthe skinneri photo fide; Orchid Genera and Species in Guatemala Archila, Szlachchetko, Chiron, Lipinska, Mystkowska and Bertolini 2018 as Guariananthe skinneri photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 88 # 1 2019 as Guariananthe skinneri photo fide; Orchid Digest Vol 88 #4 2019 as Guariananthe skinneri photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 89 #11 2020 as Guariananthe skinneri photo fide; Materials to the Orchid Flora of Colombia Vol IV:468 Szlatchetko & Kolanowska 2023 as Guariananthe deckeri photo fide;
Cattleya skinneri var. alba Bateman Photo courtesy of Grace Longley. References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ;
Die Orchideen 3 Auflage Bd 1 Sonderabdruck aus Schlechter Lieferung 10 576 - 632 Brieger, Maatsch and Senghas 1977; AOS Bulletin Vol 49 No 3 1980 photo fide; Orquídea (Mexico City). 7(4): 1980 photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 51 No 11 1982 photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 55 No 9 1986 photo fide; Orchid Digest Vol 59 No 2 1995 photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 66 No 9 1997 photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 67 No 2 1998 photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 72 No 4 2003 photo fide; Vanishing Beauty, Native Costa Rican Orchids Vol 1 Pupulin 2005 as Guariananthe skinneri f alba photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 75 #2 2006 photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 75 No 9 2006 photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 76 No 9 2007 photo fide; Orchids of Costa Rica Vol 1 Morales 2009 as Guariananthe skinneri photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 79 #7 2010 drawing fide;
Cattleya skinneri Bateman 1839 var coerula Photo courtesy of Eric Hunt, plant grown by Fordyce Orchids.
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Same as the species above except it is a white cultivar that is found solely in Costa Rica.
