Cattleya percivaliana ‘Brian Wood’ AM/AOS

[DrLeslieEe]

Awarded almost 30 years ago, this cultivar has been seldomly passed down with divisions from several generations of growers and finally to my collection about 5 years ago.

It is a typical tipo variety with smooth lavender pink color of the species but the flowers are huge compared to Summit. At 16 cm NS in this blooming, it is quite commanding. The dark almost black magenta lip exudes that nose disturbing crushed insect smell lol.

 

[tnyr5]

16! Holy crap!

 

[KZPaph]

Awarded almost 30 years ago, this cultivar has been seldomly passed down with divisions from several generations of growers and finally to my collection about 5 years ago.

It is a typical tipo variety with smooth lavender pink color of the species but the flowers are huge compared to Summit. At 16 cm NS in this blooming, it is quite commanding. The dark almost black magenta lip exudes that nose disturbing crushed insect smell lol.

View attachment 37138 View attachment 37139

Drooling all over this one! 16cm is huge

 

[DrLeslieEe]

It measured 16.5 cm NS when awarded in 1994 with 4 flowers on two inflorescences!

 

[Happypaphy7]

Drooling until I got to the part describing the scent lol
Is that typical of this species??

I once had BC Karen lormer 'Ed Mickla' AM/AOS. (nodosa x percivaliana)
Looked pretty much like nodosa except it was pure white with some fine purple spots along the midline of the lip.
It had a powerfully sweet fragrance at night that I loved very much. One of those plants that I'm not sure why I gave it away.

 

[monocotman]

Modern breeding of percivalliana has produced some huge blooms, way bigger than the standard for the species. Orchids Limited have several for sale at present. I wonder if this lovely clone is the background of those?

 

[GuRu]

To see this very pretty and huge flower in reality and have it in my collection....I even would stand the obviously strange smell.

 

[tomp]

Crushed insect…! Can’t you be a little more specific?
None the less that’s a beautiful flower.

 

[Guldal]

Whatever smell it exudes, those colours make up for everything, I presume, as long as we are not in the realm of Bulbo. phalaenopsis or echinolabium! Wonderful percy, Leslie, situated where?

Crushed insect…!

Before we all panic, please, keep in mind that this is most likely the protein part of our diet sometime in the near foreseeable future!

 

[Guldal]

Ps. Leslie, have you heard anything from Alexej P? Any solution to the feud over the inheritance - or is the business on the way down the drain?

 

[DrLeslieEe]

Drooling until I got to the part describing the scent lol
Is that typical of this species??

I once had BC Karen lormer 'Ed Mickla' AM/AOS. (nodosa x percivaliana)
Looked pretty much like nodosa except it was pure white with some fine purple spots along the midline of the lip.
It had a powerfully sweet fragrance at night that I loved very much. One of those plants that I'm not sure why I gave it away.

Yes that insect fragrance is a keynote feature if this species lol.

Hindsight 20/20 sucks lol.

 

[DrLeslieEe]

Modern breeding of percivalliana has produced some huge blooms, way bigger than the standard for the species. Orchids Limited have several for sale at present. I wonder if this lovely clone is the background of those?

Not sure if this cultivar was used by OL. But it seems like the newer percivalianas have narrow lips, inherited from the line breeding of Summit.

 

[DrLeslieEe]

To see this very pretty and huge flower in reality and have it in my collection....I even would stand the obviously strange smell.

I don’t mind the smell lol. You get used to it. In fact some say herbal medicinal aroma.

 

[DrLeslieEe]

Crushed insect…! Can’t you be a little more specific?
None the less that’s a beautiful flower.

Crushed ant smell more than crushed cockroaches lol.

 

[DrLeslieEe]

Whatever smell it exudes, those colours make up for everything, I presume, as long as we are not in the realm of Bulbo. phalaenopsis or echinolabium! Wonderful percy, Leslie, situated where?

Before we all panic, please, keep in mind that this is most likely the protein part of our diet sometime in the near foreseeable future!

It’s not bad like the Bulbos.

The plant is growing in my west window shelf in my bedroom. It’s huge now with about 12 pseudo bulbs.

Yup, we will soon turn to our insects for food!

 

[DrLeslieEe]

Ps. Leslie, have you heard anything from Alexej P? Any solution to the feud over the inheritance - or is the business on the way down the drain?

I’ve seen Alex in various shows and everything seems to be ok. PM me as to what drama you heard?

 

[LourdesCruz]

The colors make up for the smell. It is simply gorgeous. Enjoy!

 

[tnyr5]

Not sure if this cultivar was used by OL. But it seems like the newer percivalianas have narrow lips, inherited from the line breeding of Summit.

The OL line is Summit x Jungle Best or the reciprocal. Crossing a select plant from that line to this plant would be yet another outcross and should theoretically make ridiculous progeny. Hint hint.

 

[NEslipper]

Beautiful colors! One of the species I haven’t tried yet. So many individuals of this species seem to bloom with exposed columns, which is a complete deal breaker for me. This one looks relatively closed, do you find that varies on different bloomings, or with different culture?

 

[terryros]

Not sure if this cultivar was used by OL. But it seems like the newer percivalianas have narrow lips, inherited from the line breeding of Summit.

I really notice the narrower labellum in the ’Summit’ breeding line (I have a ‘Summit’ selfing) compared to ‘Brian Wood’. The ’Summit‘ FCC awarded plant (1986) was 13.4 cm width, so clearly smaller than ’Brian Wood’ (AM in 1994), but the petals in the award picture look wider and more closed in ‘Summit’. The award photo of ‘Brian Wood’ is not good in Orchids Pro. If I could command the genes, I would take the size and labellum of ‘Brian Wood’ and the petal configuration of ‘Summit’. The coloration may be about the same in the two cultivars. The chance of the perfect combination with a (‘Brian Wood’ x ‘Summit’) cross is very small. I think the size and labellum give the edge to ’Brian Wood’.