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Cattleya aclandiae
Lady Ackland's cattleya is a compact, pseudobulbous epiphytic orchid from Bahia, Brazil, grown for its large, waxy white flowers with purple spotting. The key to growing it is bright light, good air movement and a dry rest period after flowering, as it is grown mounted or in orchid mix.
Cattleya aclandiae, or Lady Ackland's cattleya, is a species of orchid from the genus Cattleya, named in honor of Lady Lydia Elizabeth Ackland, wife of Sir Thomas Dyke Acland, 10th Baronet who was the first European to grow the plant successfully. The illustration of the plant which accompanied its first description was based on a drawing by Lady Ackland. The genus was named in honour of William Cattley, a prominent British merchant and horticulturist.
Cattleya aclandiae has been widely used by orchid breeders to produce compact hybrids. When crossed with other bifoliate cattleyas, the spotted pattern is present in the offspring. Hybrids of this species generally produce plants that flower two or more times per year.
Several color varieties of C. aclandiae are known. A coerulea form is available in the orchid trade. The 'Rubra' varieties exhibit intensely deep rose lips with very large dark spots on petals and sepals, these spots often coalescing to appear almost solid deep chocolate brown. The 'alba' varieties have petals and sepals of clear lime green with snow white lips. 'Albescen' varieties have sepals and petals of light green with very pastel spots and white lips with little or no color. The more common forms of c. aclandiae have sepal and petal background colors that range from clear green with dark spots to quite yellow with dark spots. The spotting pattern may be bold, almost solid in some clones to more 'peppered', with lips ranging from light rose to deep rose-purple.
Cattleya aclandiae is found growing on tree limbs and trunks in the Brazilian state of Bahia. It has a very small natural range and is found growing in the wind southwest of Salvador on elevated plateaus that border the drainage of the Paraguaçu River. Its native habitat is seasonally dry forests between 100 and 400 meters in elevation near permanent bodies of water.
Cattleya labiata · Largest Cattleya · Cattleya purpurata · Cattleya
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Cattleya aclandiae by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
