The Devil's Excrement

The following are two pictures of Cattleya Gaskelliana Blue
Dragon x self. Cattleya Gaskelliana is a Venezuelan species and this
was the first of its “coerulea” forms to obtain a Certificate of Merit
from the American Orchid Society in 1962. “Coerulea” refers to the
“blue” color of Cattleyas, which is actually not a true blue but more
like a blueish violet color. The lip has an extensive solid area, which
is very well defined and quite striking. It is definitely a beautiful
flower and they are big and well shaped.

Today was one of the three yearly orchid exhibits we have in
Caracas. Except that last year, for one reason or another we had none,
so I welcome that this is the second one already in 2005, with the
third one talking place in late September. This one was organized by
the Sociedad de Ciencias Naturales, the oldest of the three.

Venezuela has been blessed with a huge variety of orchids, including
spectacular Cattleyas. Because we see them regularly, sometimes we lose
the perspective of what a wonderful and valuable thing we have. What I
saw today is difficult to see anywhere in the world. It was truly a
beautiful spectacle of variety, quality and beauty. At this time of the
year, Cattleya Mossiae, Venezuela’s national flower, is the most
prevalent one. Today we saw an incredible variety of these flowers,
particularly dozens of the rare alba and semi-alba varieties, and very good ones at
that, as you can see below. Cattleya Mossiae grew in the mountains
around Caracas. European collectors are said to have taken millions
from the mountains and exported them. You see few of them in the
mountain, but there are many that have been made and preserved in the
laboratory by crossing and cloning. This one was one of those rare
occasions when a show takes place at a time that people (except me!)
have very high quality flowering.

I enjoyed the contrast with the exhibit in Dijon and here. I could
observe, contemplate and capture with my camera any flower I wanted in
relative peace, without any crowds at 9 AM, when I went to the show.
Natural lighting was good, even if it provided some challenges with
shadows and bright spots. Below, a small sample of the wonderful show
today.

Three groups of flowers by both private and commercail collectors

Another group of flowers Gaskellianas and Mossiaes Cattleya Mossiae galore!

Three spectacular Cat. Mossiae. The one on the right won the most prizes for these plants.

More spectacular Catlleya Mossiae semi alba

Cattleya Mossiae Cattleya Gaskelliana Cattleya Leddemaniana coerulea

Our spring orchid exhbit is this week, which means my flowers are all dying, but here is what I would have shown last weekend:

A very nice Cattleya Nobilior from Brazil, this is the corelua variety. Simply lovely!    This is a picture of one floer of my Aerangis Citrata, after showing the plant form the World Orchod Show below, I refuse to show how tiny my plant is. But I love it.

I don’t like hybrid too much, but when they are so close to the original species like this Slc. Jungle Gem, I just melt!

As I mentioned, I went to the World Orchid Conference in Dijon on March 9th. below some of the pictures from the exhibit. As usual, I found the exhibit to be almost overwhelming. So many flowers! It was simply spectacular as you can see below. There were two problems. First of all, the amount of people seeing the exhibit was simply staggering. At any given time, there were four or five people deep trying to see the plants and they would not move! This made it hard to ee the plants, let alone take pictures.

The good part was that most people like the “showy” stuff, like Cymbidiums and I tend to like rare species more, so where species pevailed there would be fewer people. Unfortunately lighting was not very good and most of my pictures did not come out very well. I did not bring a tripod (It may not have helped given the crowds!) so I used my wife’s shoulder for many of the pictures below. (Thanks!)

Spectacular Coelogyne Specimen plant                      Field of Miltonias

Field of Paphios

Spectacular Aerangis Citrata plant. I will post my little plant of this species tomorrow.

The lesser one of the Venezuelan Cattleyas (No insult, just reality!), Cattleya Lawrenceana. Top left: Specimen plant with 20 some blooms. Top Right: Detailed shot of the flower.

Left: Venezuelan Schomburgkia Undulata, which I love. Right: Brazilian Cattleya Aclandie, difficult, but when you dominate it, it flowers twice a year. It is very fragrant and you have to love the contrast between the brown, dotted sepals and petal and the red lip!

Catlleya Gaskelliana Mimi x Aida  (Venezuela)                    Cattleya Intermedia (Brazil) Nice one!

Two huge Cattleya Lueddemaniana’s Arturo x Maruja Venezuelan species

Cattleya Luddemaniana Mariauxi x Ignacio Very good shape, first flowering

I am not very big on hybrids, but I think this Slc. Wendy’s Valentine Jun on the top left is very pretty and I was sure my friend B. would agree with me, but the first picture I took did not do justice to the flower, so here is a better picture. Top right is a Venezuelan species Cattleya Lueddemaniana Clin Mc Dade x Raga bred by Armando Mantellini of Orquideario Cerro Verde, very fragrant!

I have quiet a few Cattleya Intermedias from Brazil. Above are two of them, they have begun to flower so you shoudl see lots of them in the upcoming weeeks here. The one on the left does not have great shape, but it has very nice flaring on the petals, which makes it special. A more tarditional one is seen on the right Cattleya Intermedia Amethystina, which flowers very generously here in my house. Right now the plant has eight flowers and around 8 more bulbs.

Las Sunday a friend called and said he had purchased an orchid for me that the seller guaranteed I did not have in my colletion and he would bring to my house. I was intrigued at how the seller would know whether I ahd it or not but did not argue. Well, the flower above is made by an craftsman who sells is wares outside the National Gallery in Caracas.He makes flowers out of soda cans, in this case a can of Grape “Golden Cup” as seen by the upside down lettering. I also saw a beautiful ose made by him. Thanks M. and J.

Unknown hybrid, big flower, generous flowering and regular. On the right the same flower from the side as requested by a friend (Complacida B.!)

Vey nice Cattleya Gaskelliana from venezuela.          Sideways view of Cirropetallum Gracillinum from Asia. It was not easy to take pictures, those hairs would move at the slightest breeze. I will try to taka better pictures of a new bloom next week. This is the first time this flowers for me. I love these weird looking ones! Nature is amazing!

Another side view, trying to get closer to the flowers.     Top View

Bottom View

Lots of flowers, despite this time of the year not being the best. Top left: Cattleya Walkeriana semi alba from Brazil. This poor flowers grew thru a wire mesh, I did not dare move them, but then I figured I had to or I would never see them properly. Not the best shape in the world, but I like the contrast between the lip and the flower. On the right is a Cattelya Walkeriana alba from Brazil, this one is almost perfect, even better than the Pendentive in my previous post. The petals and sepals are almost in a plane. Bot are quite fragrant. The last one is simply spectacular!

Top Left: Cattleya Labiata also from Brazil. Top Right: Potinara Sun Spots.

Left: A bunch of flowers from an Oncidium Cebolleta. Right: Close up of the flower. This plant can be found in Venezuela, Colombia and Ecuador.

Top left: Bunch of Cattleya Hot Pink “Lulu” a hybrid thta flowers four times a year. Right: Close up of one flower. Each flower is maybe three inches in diameter.

Top left: Picture of Cirropetalum Corolliferum from above, the flowers almost fill the circle. Top right: Close up from the side.

Close up so that you can see the complexity of the flowers. This is a species from Malasya, Singapore, Thailand and other countries in Asia.

Another magnificent Cattleya Percivaliana species from Venezuela. The flower is known for its stinky smell. The blow up on the right of the lip shows the detailed variety of colors it has. The yellows are strong, like egg yolk and the purples become almost red. Very nice example of this species.