Orchid ID: Cattleya Warsewiczii var. Alba - The orchid that costs more than a month of your life.

Hello dear readers.

Yes, there is an orchid like that and no I haven't been joking because i seen it sell for sums up to £2000 for beautiful mature speciments.

I'll start with a picture - usually I don't start with a picture but this is a special case.

Cattleya Warsewiczii or Gigas is an orchid of old. Called such because this species has it's history back in the 1900 in the golden era of Orchid discovery. But the history traces this one back to 1850 when H.G.Reichenbach decided to name a peculiar orchid with enormous flowers in honor of his dearest friend Polish botanist Joseph Warsewicz. Then things got a bit complicated because a certain Jean Jules Linden in 1873 published a separate publication naming this orchid Cattleya Gigas and pro-actively spreading the news. However incorrect and against the correct classification the growers took in the name Cattleya Gigas taking little notice of the correct horticulture classification. 

Originally the orchid was grown in deep purple, violet and shades similar to this. In 1910 at the Boston flower exhibition a John B. Lager presented an albino version of the orchid which quickly caused a huge stir in the orchid world. It was one of a kind. It is said the first division was sold for $5.000 which today equals to $122.053, which is an outstanding amount of money.

Because these type of orchid is considered as an antique it is usually considered obsolete compared to the new, super boosted supermarket clones and hybrids however Dr. Carl Withner wrote about the first original Cattleya Warsewiczi var Alba '' Firmin Lambeau'' in his excellent book, The Cattleyas and Their Relatives, Vol. 1, 1988, page 130:: "A plant or two of these clones may still exist, and, if so, should be mericloned to preserve them as "International Historical treasured Parents". The same is true, of course, of many other clones of various species if plants could still be found at this late date. These highly selected clones represent invaluable portions of the gene pools of these species and may never be duplicated again, especially in the light of the present rate of forest destruction in the tropics. If they should also be virus-free, it would be a miracle after all this time, but would be worth preserving under any circumstance." Just to note that the division of a grand-grand child of this orchid was offered on a auction in 2008 for $10.000. 

It is important to mention what is said in the quote above, Cattleya Warsewiczii is a very very old type of orchid, and it was cloned hundreds if not thousand of times and it may have invisible viruses which don't kill the plant but cause some changes in the leaves. Back then there was no technology to recognize the viruses, however today there are techniques that help cure some of the plant diseases.

This is a northwestern Colombian species found at elevations of 500 to 1500 meters in bright to almost full sun on trees near streams where it is a warm to cool growing epiphyte with thick, shiny, cigar-shaped, deeply grooved pseudobulbs carrying a single, apical, oblong , very thick, dark green, leathery leaf that is rounded apically.

Cattleya Warsewiczii is famous for its size as each flower can be up to 12 inches across and the bulb can bare up to 10 flowers, furthermore its the only Cattleya that grows it's spikes upright which allows the flowers the best showy position.

These orchids deal really well with full sun, though its advised to shade them a bit during the summer to avoid scorching the leaves. 

Watering is important and don't let the bulbs shrivel as this may have a big effect on the flowers, also the plants needs a slight winter break when mature, though its OK to water normally when its younger to allow for a faster growth.

The Cattleya Warsewiczii usually is called The Herald of Summer as it natural blooming pattern starts with the first warm summer days so its a joy to behold when the summer arrives.

All Cattleya's like being fed and usually the fertilizer should have a nigher percentage of Nitrogen than you would usually use for any other orchids.

Where to get it?

Well this is a hard question, I have bought mine on a accidental sale as a seedling and it probably will be at least 2 years before i can think about flowers. Because this is such a expensive species it is best to look for very young plants.

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Some pictures presented in this article may not belong to me and are a property of their respectable owners.