Catt percivaliana 'Peak Hope' - ('Summit' x self)

[terryros]

This plant/flower is from one of probably several Cattleya percivaliana (‘Summit’ x self) crosses that were made in the last decade. I suspect most of us don’t know whether our plant was made with a documented division of the original plant or came from one of the mericlones that were made from ‘Summit’, a known polyploid plant. I gave a cultivar name of ‘Peak Hope’ to my plant because I knew that I would never get a true division of either ‘Summit’ or ‘Mendenhall Summit’ so this was the best I could hope for!


My other percivaliana is ‘Alberts’, I think a known diploid, also blooming at this time and the two plants and flowers are substantially different. Here is ‘Alberts’.


‘Peak Hope’ has very strong substance (befitting the polyploid status of ‘Summit’) and is rounder. The venous pattern is also prominent, which I don’t think I have seen in other pictures of ‘Summit’. The ‘Alberts’ flower has a larger natural horizontal width, lighter substance and color, a more open pattern, and the dorsal sepal reflexes backwards. The fragrance is also slightly different between the two flowers, but I can’t describe the difference.

There have been a few posts about Cattleya flowers with prominent venous patterns, but I am never sure whether I like it as much as smoother color. I need help about this.

 

[GuRu]

Terry, I'm a avowed lover of C. percivaliana due to its lovely purple inside of the lip. I like both of your flowers but as far as I can assess them by the photos 'Peak Hope' made my day. Flower shape, colouration and the shape more open lip tip the scales. Wonderful !

 

[LadySlipper]

Simply beautiful.

 

[DrLeslieEe]

Congrats on the blooming.

It seems both flowers have very unusually small lips. The first one is likely a Summit selfing. The second doesn’t look like any Alberts I have flowered or seen (the lip on Alberts is larger and rounder, showing no windows around lower sepals). You sure it’s Alberts?

 

[terryros]

Congrats on the blooming.

It seems both flowers have very unusually small lips. The first one is likely a Summit selfing. The second doesn’t look like any Alberts I have flowered or seen (the lip on Alberts is larger and rounder, showing no windows around lower sepals). You sure it’s Alberts?

I agree. I bought it in person years ago from Jerry Fischer at Orchids Limited and his provenance is usually very careful. Here is the link to their webpage about it. I don't see it clearly being a division instead of a mericlone.

https://www.orchidweb.com/orchids/cattleya-alliance/species/cattleya-percivaliana-alberts
Do you you think something cultural could be impacting the labellum configuration?

What about the prominent veins - cultural?

 

[DrLeslieEe]

I agree. I bought it in person years ago from Jerry Fischer at Orchids Limited and his provenance is usually very careful. Here is the link to their webpage about it. I don't see it clearly being a division instead of a mericlone.

https://www.orchidweb.com/orchids/cattleya-alliance/species/cattleya-percivaliana-alberts
Do you you think something cultural could be impacting the labellum configuration?

What about the prominent veins - cultural?

The OL listing is for a division of 'Alberts'.

Perhaps the labellum issues might be a cultural phenomenon in this two cases. I do notice small lips when the phosphate is low in the feed or low humidity.

Lets see next year's bloom if it repeats or corrects itself.

 

[terryros]

The OL listing is for a division of 'Alberts'.

Perhaps the labellum issues might be a cultural phenomenon in this two cases. I do notice small lips when the phosphate is low in the feed or low humidity.

Lets see next year's bloom if it repeats or corrects itself.

For several reasons I don’t think it is nutritional, but I will wait one more year. I think I just don’t have the right genetics in the two plants and need to look for better percivaliana. Haven’t seen labellum problems on other Cattleyas.

 

[DrLeslieEe]

Best to wait another year and see if this corrects itself. Could be just a percivaliana down time over there.