Cattleya walkeriana 'Tokutsu' (MC)

This is a mericlone of C. walkeriana var. flammea 'Tokutsu' GM/JOGA in its first blooming. The flowers are large and have a heavy substance, but do not have the fantastic flame of the awarded parent.

A distinctive characteristic of this walkeriana (my mericlone, anyway) is its size. The length and girth of the pseudobulbs and corresponding length and breadth of the leaves exceed the norm for the species. The roots are also especially thick and vigorous. The plant had been in an 8-inch basket, but after replacing the medium two months ago, I couldn’t fit the root system back into it. It’s in a 10-inch basket now.

If you’d like to see the amazing flower of the original 'Tokutsu' GM/JOGA, here’s a picture:

http://www.geocities.jp/newsilvertoshi/c.walkeriana.fma.flamea.tokutsu.jpg

 

Thanks for the comments - and Peter T, those are excellent observations. A better picture that I had intended to link to is no longer on the internet. In the one above, the color isn't right. It's not that purple. Here are a couple more links below.

In the second one is an interesting picture of a large plant with two infloresences. The flowers on one are flammeas and those on the other are semi-albas. According to a translation of the text, the flowers without the flares bloomed after the flared ones at a time when temperatures were higher.

http://www.orchidweb.jp/information/wakayama_orchid_walkerianashow2002/

http://www1-1.kcn.ne.jp/~widehill/newpage59.htm