C. mooreana & C. luteola
 

I got this Cattleya mooreana from Peruflora this May. Even though the plant is not so well established yet, it decided to shoot 2 inflorescences. I broke one of them to save energy, but let one of them to flower. I had a C. luteola (also from Peruflora, but from last year) flowering at the same time, so I decided to take side-by-side photos.

Carl Withner's The Cattleyas and Their relatives Vol. 1 has some story about his discovery of this species. He saw it in Lee Moore's import in 1958, but the unestablished plant flowered and died (I hope mine can make it). Withner didn't press it as the type specimen, so he couldn't describe it until another individual was found in 1987.

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Cattleya mooreana 'NT2' on Flickr

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Cattleya mooreana 'NT2' on Flickr


C. luteola (left) and C. mooreana (right). C. luteola flowers were getting old, so it is not in a good condition.

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Flowers of Cattleya luteola and C. mooreana 'NT2' on Flickr

Lip comparison:

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Cattleya luteola lip on Flickr

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Cattleya mooreana 'NT2' lip on Flickr

C. luteola lips seem to be more frilly around the edge. This C. luteola individual has red marking along the side lobes of the lip (inside). But the type flower was completely yellow according to Withner's book. The lip of C. mooreana is much thicker than C. luteola. When you look at the red markings on the front lip, you can see that it is under a transparent layer of cells. And it has some glossy look. So in addition to the thickness and red marks, the texture of the lip surface is quite different. Under magnification, it is beautiful.

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side view of Cattleya luteola and C. mooreana 'NT2' on Flickr

C. luteola (left) and C. mooreana 'NT2' (right). Note that while the flower size of C. mooreana is only slightly larger than that of C. luteola, the ovary of C. mooreana is huge. Withner noted this. Also the stem of the inflorescence is much more robust.

Plant size:
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Plants of Cattleya luteola and C. mooreana 'NT2' on Flickr
C. luteola (left) and C. mooreana 'NT2' (right). The difference in the plant size is huge. You can see that C. mooreana is not well established yet. I haven't figured out what condition this species prefers, but it seems to be quite touchier than other Cattleya species.

Great comparison shots and info!

I have both species but both plants are a bit too young to bloom yet. Thanks for sharing!

Katrina, how do you grow your C. mooreana? I appreciate any info about media, watering, temp, rest etc. My previous one was in med. bark in plastic pot, and treated it similar to typical Catt. It didn't do anything and I failed to acclimate it. This time, I tried sphag in Clay and mounting with fair amount of sphag. After the pseudobulb started to wrinkle, I raised the humidity (RH 70-90%), lowered temp (from 80/60 F to 70/60F), water more frequently, and put it closer to the light. Well some of these are not good things to do when the plant is stressed. But they started to grow a bit better. However, the roots appear to be a bit shy (growth stops easily). I probably should reduce watering to encourage more root growth. I can grow other Catt, but I don't have lots of experience with Catt, so I appreciate your advice.

Wonderful!

Very nice! It actually reminds me of a cymbidium.

Thank you for showing the comparison, much appreciated. We very rarely see mooreana and luteola in collections here in Africa, very scares species and is wonderful how you have compared them through your photos. Great learning curve, thank you.

I also got mine from Peruflora...it's only been about a year, I think. I wasn't even sure if it would make it because it was in pretty rough shape when it arrived. But that's the way it is w/imports sometimes so I potted it up in a small clay pot (4") w/leca and a little sphag on top and I wished it well. It did nothing for the longest time...just sat there...and then late spring/early summer it sprouted a new growth.

I've always just treated it like my other catts. Bright light...dry between waterings and pretty much intermediate temps.

During the summer when it was outside it got watered nearly every day...the clay/leca dries fast. We had some periods of extended rain...for days...and it didn't appear to be bothered by that excess.

During the colder months it's inside under the HOT5 lights and they are very drying so I water it about 3x a week. I'm too lazy to water more than 3x a week but I think most catts do well being a little drier during the winter. My laziness carries over to fert too - less in the winter.

So, yea, basically I do nothing special but I do think it takes time for imports to bounce back and some just take a lot longer.

Thanks for the comparison!

Thank you for sharing your culture, Katrina!

I like the flowers.It is so beatful!