Cattleya Pulcherrima (1898) (Cattleya lobata x Cattleya purpurata) is one of the oldest Cattleya hybrids originated and registered by Sanders (St. Albans) in 1898. 

Previous Awards:

There are 5 AOS awards for this cross on 3 cultivars. All of them have white flowers.

Description:

The candidate has 3 flowers on one inflorescences. Inflorescence height is 49 cm height. Plant growing in 15 cm clay pot.

Plant's label is attached.

Flower Measurements:

NS H - 11.0 cm;                   NS V - 12.0 cm;

Dorsal Sep. W - 1.7 cm;    Dorsal Sep. L - 6.0 cm;

Petal W - 4.0 cm;               Petals L - 6.0 cm;

Lat/Synsepal W - 1.7 cm; Lat/Synsepal L - 6.5 cm;

Lip/Pouch W - 3.3 cm;      Lip/Pouch L - 5.0 cm.

Exhibitor - David and Joan Rosenfeld, NJ

Plant has been screened.

Judges loved rich colored flowers of this Cattleya however they noted that flowers are smaller than previously awarded. This is a first bloom and judges hopes that this plant can produce larger flowers and more flowers per inflorescence when plant will mature.

You can find now 9 AOS awards in OrchidPro - thanks to Laura Newton for updating the database. Now Cattleya Pulcherrima (1898) and Laelia Pulcherrima are listed under the same name - Cattleya Pulcherrima (1898)

This plant brought interesting discussion regarding flower's color. They suggested to ask hybridizator (Carter and Holmes Orchids) and exhibitor received answer which I would like to share:

Good Morning David.

Short answer, yes the plant is labeled correctly. We have bloomed two ourselves and another customer reported the same flowering color. I made the seedpod on 5/9/2011. We also use a triple numbering system to avoid mix-ups with seedpods. Though in this case I am positive simply because at the time we did not have a striata form in our collection to breed with. 

Long answer, while both parents were pale forms the genetics did not line up in the seedlings and the colors reverted to the more 'tipo' coloring expected for both species. 

We did not expect this to occur, but it is not unheard of.  Many times albas, flavas or even coeruleas revert and show surprising results later. (I have a cross from Fred Clarke that bloomed lavender this spring instead of the expected blue!). We did not suspect anything until last spring when we noticed pigmentation freckles on the largest, new growths and then we had three successive flowerings like the photo shown below. 

The original cross we were attempting to reproduce was #7013 Laelia purpurata alba 'Elias' x Laelia lobata concolor 'Jeni'.  That cross did result in soft pinks, concolor pinks and even the occasional alba. We knew with this new pairing albas were not likely, but expected the soft pinks with darker lip coloring to come through. Obviously we were wrong!

I am very sorry for the confusion. The plant is indeed labeled correctly, it just produced unexpected results. Not the first time, and probably won't be the last.  I have seen this occur in multiple genera over the years.

The photo I attached to the first email is a sister to the one you have, from the cross #9997 Laelia Pulcherrima . The other two were almost identical.

The photo I am attaching below shows seedlings from our earlier cross of #7013 Laelia Pulcherrima, which we have kept several plants of. You will notice that even though the same Laelia lobata concolor was used in both crosses, the results are quite different. The Laelia purpurata carnea was different and apparently made the difference. However, something I was taught and should always be keeping in mind. A Remake is not a Replay. Even if the same parents had been used, there might be different results. This goes for a lot of Cattleya crosses.           

Tipo simply refers to typical coloring. So for any species that is available in different color forms tipo can refer to the basic form, usually the lavender with purple lip. Anytime you work with species that are showing recessive coloring, it can be a little bit of a crapshoot which color will dominate. Sib crosses can yield different results from selfings, and so forth.

Hope this helps,

Bridget Uzar

Carter and Holmes Orchids, SC