Cattleya 'the king'

[cb977]

According to Orchidwiz:

Cattleya The King
(Cattleya His Majesty (1919) x Cattleya Joseph Charlesworth)

It was registered in 1931 and has never been recorded...no info or photos available.

[Call_Me_Bob]

alright, thanks

[calvin_orchidL]

Variegation is certainly rare in catts, and if this plant is otherwise decently healthy / nurturable to a healthy state, it is worth the $90. Personally I could care less, but that's the difference between a collector and people like you and me For the things that I have a soft spot for, I am generally much more 'flexible' in my critique of overall plant health before purchasing

A similar plant with the same epithet was being sold on ebay 4 years ago ((check it out) but you can tell from one of the postings on the thread that variegation sometimes seems to spontaneously occur in cattleyas as well. I wonder if this plant is stable in it's mutation.

[Call_Me_Bob]

well, iwent today. but i didnt get it. my guts just said no. here are the facts.

he only had one cattleya. and it isnt in good shape. so i didnt think it was wise. i thought it might have just been the pic on the site that looked like that, but thats the exact same one he had.

[Junebug]

Originally Posted by help

well, iwent today. but i didnt get it. my guts just said no. here are the facts.

he only had one cattleya. and it isnt in good shape. so i didnt think it was wise. i thought it might have just been the pic on the site that looked like that, but thats the exact same one he had.

Well good. Glad you didn't get ripped. I took the time to check out his other plants. Most all of them had grand descriptions, but they looked like unhealthy specimens planted in small pots with big price tags. I've picked up better looking plants from the clearance table at Walmart. IMO this guy is shady with less than average cultivation skills.

You mentioned he was going out of business and his plants were on clearance. Just out of curiosity how much of a discount was he willing to give you?

[Call_Me_Bob]

okay, so started with his private collection
and then after he had a few gh's he decided to go into wholesale. after a good while in wholesale, he is going out of buisines. he seemed like he didnt want to sell at all though! he seemed like every single one was his absolute favorite. and he still wanted $90 fo rthat sickly plant!! most of the other plants were nice though. i got a really pretty neofinetia falcata 'setsu-zan'

[Vaughn8381]

It is a variegated selection of Cattleya Moscombe 'The King'. After a great deal of research I found a Japanese site that had the exact plant pictured with the name.

I got one from Asiatica myself. Not what I'd call grown in ideal conditions, but a rare plant is a rare plant and now it is doing great. I actually considered $90 to be a steal for such a superior cultivar. Would have been nice to have a plant grown into perfect form, but I can do that on my own. One of my best acquisitions, and something I certainly never would have had a chance to get again.

And as for picking up better plants at walmart, if you could find rare variegated orchids in a walmart clearance bin you could buy them, rehab them, and make a mint reselling them. But even a healthy Walmart orchid is just a massed produced pot plant. Even at it's peak, unexceptional.