Cattleya luteola Lindley 1853 SUBGENUS Stellata Withner 1988
Photo by © Dario Melgar.
Photo by © Jay Pfahl.
Drawing by © Reichenbach
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Common Name Pale Yellow Cattleya
Flower Size 2" [5 cm]
Found in Amazonas state of Brazil, Peru, Ecuador and Bolivia, in lowland tropical rain forests at elevations between 100 and 1200 meters and occasionally up to 2000 meters as a dwarf sized, unifoliate, cool to warm growing epiphytic species with a slender creeping rhizome giving rise to clavate, ellipsoid or clavate-cylindrical sulcate pseudobulbs carrying a single, apical, oblong or oblong-elliptic, obtuse or notched apically leaf that blooms in the late summer till fall on a terminal, racemose, 1.6" to 6" [4 to 15 cm] long, several flowered inflorescence arising on a mature pseudobulb that is shorter than the leaves arising through a large dried basal sheath, and carries a few to several, long-lived, fragrant floral scented or not flowers.
This species needs a distinct winter rest but while growing needs ample water, high light and fertilizer and grows best on a cork mount to accomodate the rambling rhizome.
Synonyms Cattleya epidendroides Rchb.f. 1856; Cattleya epidendroides hort. 1856; Cattleya flavida Klotsch 1856; Cattleya holfordi hort. ex Rchb.f 1856; Cattleya luteola var. fastuosa Rchb.f. 1856; Cattleya luteola var. lepida Rchb.f. 1856; Cattleya luteola var. multiflora Barb.Rodr. 1877; Cattleya luteola var. roezlii Rchb. f. 1881; Cattleya meyeri Regel. 1856; Cattleya modesta Meyer 1856; Cattleya sulphurea Hort. ex Gard. 1885; Cattleya urselii hort. ; Epidendrum cattleyae hort; Epidendrum luteolum [Lindley] Rchb.f 1861
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ;
*Gard. Chron. 1853: 774 Lindley 1853
Xenia Orchidaceae Rchb.f 1854 drawing fide;
Allg. Gartenzeitung 24: 73 Klotsch 1856 as C flavida;
Xenia Orchid. 1: 209 Rchb.f 1856 as C epidendroides;
Xenia Orchid. 1: 209 Rchb.f 1856 as C epidendroides; as C luteola var fastuosa;
Xenia Orchid. 1: 209 Rchb.f 1856 as C epidendroides; as C luteola var lepida
Xenia Orchid. 1: 209 Rchb.f 1856 as C epidendroides; as C holfordii;
Gartenflora 5: 116 Regel 1856 as C meyeri;
Bonplandia 4:328 Rchb.f 1856 ; Ann. Bot. Syst. 6: 313 Rchb.f 1861 as Epidendrum luteolum; Gen. Spec. Orchid. 1: 73 Barb Rodr. 1877 as C luteola var multiflora; Gard. Chron., n.s., 15: 782 Rchb.f 1881 as C luteola var roezlii; Gard. Chron., ser. 3, 5: 802 Mast. 1889 as C sulphurea; Die Orchideen Schlechter 1915; Atlas des Orchidees Cultivees Constantin 1920 drawing good; Orchids of Peru Schweinfurth 1958; AOS Bulletin Vol 29 No 2 1960; AOS Bulletin Vol 29 No 11 1960 photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 32 No 10 1963; AOS Bulletin Vol 33 No 2 1964 photo fide; Encyclopedia of Cultivated Orchids Hawkes 1965; AOS Bulletin Vol 35 No 10 1966; AOS Bulletin Vol 36 #7 1967 photo fide; Orchidaceae Brasilienses Pabst & Dungs Band I 1975 drawing fide; Die Orchideen 3 Auflage Bd 1 Sonderabdruck aus Schlechter Lieferung 10 576 - 632 Brieger, Maatsch and Senghas 1977 photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 51 No 5 1982; Icones planetarum Tropicarum plate 515 Vasquez & Dodson 1982 drawing fide; An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Orchids Pridgeon 1982; Growing Orchids Vol 2 Rentoul 1982; AOS Bulletin Vol 52 No 3 1983 photo fide; The Catttleya and their Relatives Withner Vol 1 1988 photo fide; Icones Planetarum Tropicarum Series II Orchids of Peru Plate 022 Dodson & Bennett 1989 drawing fide; The Manual of Cultivated Orchids Bechtel, Cribb and Laurent 1992 photo fide; Miniature Orchids McQueen 1992; Orchids of Brazil McQueen 1993 photo fide; Native ecuadorian Orchids Vol 1 Dodson 1994; Manual of Orchids Stewart 1995; Botanica's Orchids Laurel Glen 2002; AOS Bulletin Vol 73 No 3 2004 photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 74 No 2 2005 photo; Orchids of Bolivia Vol 2 Laelinae Vasquez and Ibisch 2004 drawing/photo fide; Flora Of Ecuador # 76 225[2] Dodson & Luer 2005; Orchid Digest Vol 71 No 1 2007 photo fide; Miniature Orchids Frownie 2007; Libro Rojo de Plantas De Colombia Vol 6 Primera Parte Saenz 2007; Mille et Une Mini Orchideees Roguenant 2009 photo fide; Orchid Species of Peru Zelenko Bermudez 2009 photo fide; Orquideas del Peru Freuler 2010 photo fide; Las Orquideas del Peru Izerskyy & Bezverhov 2011 photo fide; Orchids, A Colombian Treasure Vol 1 Ortiz & Uribe 2014 photo fide; Orchid Digest Vol 79 #4 2015 photo fide; Orchid Digest Vol 80 #2 2016; AOS Bulletin Vol 86 #6 2017 photo fide; Materials to the Orchid Flora of Colombia Vol IV: 475 Szlatchetko & Kolanowska 2023 photo fide
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