Breeding in Cattleyas

Cattleya is a native of the American tropics, occuring mostly in Mexico and Guatemala , northern regions of South America and Southern Brazil . It was one of the first genera upon which hybridisation was intiated for purposes of improvement . Many of today's hybrid Cattleyas are the result of years of carefully planned breeding , which has brought vast improvements on the original Cattleya flower.

There are three groups of Cattleyas : the mauve and purple types , the yellow and bronz types and the white and the white with coloured lips. Cattleya dowiana ,C. trianae and C. mossiae were the most popular parents used in breeding programmes ,and they have 435 , 392 and 315 hybrids respectively to their credit . (humphrey, 1960 ). C. dowiana was valued greatly for its variety aurea , which played a significant role in the attempts to breed pure yellow forms. Similarly Cattleya mossiae var. alba has figured prominently in the breeding of the pure white forms of Cattleya . Cattleya trianae has helped a great deal in imparting heavy texture to the hybrids.

But the most popular hybrids from this group were bred with the help of other genera related to Cattleya , like Laelia , Brassavola and Sophronitis . The last named genus brought its brilliant red colour to its hybrids with Cattleya -a cross which was first attempted by Veitch in 1896.

Cattleya intermedia x Sophronitis coccinea = Sopharocattleya batemanniana

In 1903 Sanders produced the first Laeliocattleya hybrid.

Cattleya hardyana x Laelia pumilapratens = Laeliocattleya Rubens

Laelia impartede to its hybrids , its beautiful and brilliant colours. In 1907 Holfred combined these three genera together :

Lc . Aureole x Sopharonitis coccinea = Sophrolaeliocattleya Falcon

As early as 1889 Brassavolva digbyana had been mixed with Cattleya by Maron and also by Veitch , to produce Brassocattleya . The beautifully fimbriated lip of Brassavola had been an added attraction to the hybrid flower. Charlesworth in 1922 combined all the four genera in one hybrid form:

Brassocattleya Edna x Sophrolaeliocattlonitis Marathon = Pontinara Juliette

Curiously , the tetrageneric hybrid Pontinara did not possess many possessed and hence it turned out to be not so popular . The two other main lines of breeding in the Cattleya group were towards evolving pure white and yellow forms . The dream of a pure alba variety has long since been equal success. Alba varieties of C. mossiae, C. trianae and C. gaskelliana were utilised in the breeding of the pure white form x Suzanne Hye (Pauwel, 1908), x C. Edithae (Pauwel , 1914) , x C . Bow Bells (Black and Flory, 1945), x C. Bob Betts (Mc Dade , 1950) etc . are among the best white Cattleyas so far bred.