Laelia sincorana

Laelia sincorana, now reclassified as Cattleya sincorana is one of the smaller species and a real jewel.  It is from Brazil and blooms here in the spring.  The round pseudobulbs with their leaves are 10 cm tall and the flowers the same size or a bit larger.  The flower spikes emerge from within the leaves just as the leaves begin to unfold and the flowers are usually born singly, though occasionally I get two flowers from a flower spike.  I grow the plant with the highest light I can give it in cool to intermediate temperatures and mounted on a piece of tree branch.

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Sophrolaeliocattleya Circle of Life

This is one of the few hybrids I grow and one of the few Cattleyas I grow.  It's a hybrid of Laeliocattleya Culminant and the tiny red species, Sophronitis coccinea and due to the renaming of the species in its background would now be known simply as Cattleya Circle of Life.  It is a small plant as Cattleyas go, only 25 cm tall with 7-8 cm flowers, two per growth.  It blooms faithfully every spring and is one I raised from a very small seedling.

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Sophronitis acuensis

Sophronitis acuensis is a species from Brazil, as are all the species in the genus.  It is now reclassified as Cattleya, but by any name is colorful and desirable.  Its flowers are slightly smaller than the better known Sophronitis coccinea and the plant is much smaller, the individual growths only 4 cm tall, smaller than the 5 cm flowers.  My plant is mounted on a moss covered branch and receives very high light.  Like the other Sophronitis species it prefers cooler temperatures.

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Sophrolaeliocattleya Dream Catcher

Here is another of the few Cattleya-type hybrids I grow, Sophrolaeliocattleya Dream Catcher, a hybrid of Sophrolaeliocattleya Bright Angel and Sophrocattleya Beaufort.  I have two of these and one blooms orange, the other red.  This is the red-flowered plant, though I've included a picture of the flowers from the other plant as well.

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Sophronitis coccinea 'Fourth Dimension'

My 4N Sophronitis coccinea is in bloom once again, this year with two flowers.  I find it a rather slow grower, though it has good form and blooms reliably every spring.  The flowers are 7 cm across when fully developed, but when they first open are only 3 cm and get larger over quite a long period of time.  This species is known for its brilliant color and small size and has been much used in hybridizing for those reasons.  This particular clone is a tetraploid and has extra fine size, shape and substance for that reason.  I grow it in a clay pot in sphagnum.

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Laelia sincorana

Laelia sincorana in one of the smaller Laelias (though now reclassified as Sophronitis).  Related to Cattleya, it has very large flowers for the size of the plant and very showy flowers as well.  Both plant and flowers are 10 cm and this year my plant produced three flowers, two from one growth and one from another growth.  The flowers are seasonal, however, and the plant only ever blooms for me in the spring.  All the growths produced at other times of the years are without flowers.

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Sophrolaeliocattleya Dream Catcher

This mini-Cattleya has everything going for it.  It is small plant, around 15 cm, with large 6 cm flowers that are of excellent shape and good clear color.  It blooms on every new growth, with two flowers per growth and the flowers are very long lasting.  They open a reddish-orange color, but quickly fade to a bright orange that is veined and lightly flared in red.  The lip, as can be seen from the photos is yellow with red veining and a red mid-lobe.  The difference in color in the photos, however, is due not only to the age of the flowers but also to the season.  The flowers that open in warmer weather are distinctly lighter and less deep in color than the flowers that open in cooler weather.

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Laelia sincorana

Though still a miniature, especially in comparison to most of the Cattleyas and to other of the Laelias, this is one of the larger orchids I grow, and certainly has the largest flowers of any of my orchids.  The plant is about 10 cm tall and the flowers about the same size.  The species is from Brazil and has been recently reclassified as a Cattleya.  I still think of it as a Laelia, however, and have difficulty adopting the name change.

The plant only ever produces one flower and does not bloom on every growth, but seems to bloom seasonally.  I grow it mounted under the highest light I can give it, and hold back watering a bit when the growths mature, though there are usually new growths started at the same time.  The lighter colored, flatter flower below is from another plant, slightly smaller and with a smaller flower as well.

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