Cattleya guatamalensis

The above photograph is one inflorescence of a plant in cultivation amid a collection being nutured by its owner in Stockport, Cheshire. U.K. As can be seen it is the pink/salmon variety of National Flower of Guatamala which is a Natural Hybrid; probably from C. skinneri and C. aurantiaca. Other known Forms are coloured white; yellow and orange; rose; purple and red.

It is somewhat rare in collections. It would appear that the earliest specimens were collected and sent to the U.K. (most probably to J. Bateman) by George Ure Skinner who collected from trees on which the cattleya named after him and C. arantiaca were growing. In Veitch’s “Manual of Orchidaceous Plants – 1887” stated that the plant had long since disappeared from cultivation..