ASOPOMO Three

Cattleya Chocolate Drop 'Volcano Queen'. A superb example that man's interference with nature can make beautiful things. This is a "primary hybrid" - a hybrid with only two species involved. The habitats of it's parents - C. guttata x C. aurantiaca - are far enough apart that a natural hybrid is impossible. It took human intervention to produce it. Think of it as man being a botanical Shadkhen (a wonderful Yiddish term for professional matchmaker that an orchid society member suggested to me at one of my lectures). Or a botanical ménage à trois in which the breeder is the third sex partner. (Flowers are sex organs you know!! Oh, grow up and stop blushing.) It bears a stiff, waxy flower 3" across with an incredible fragrance of cloves and honey (if you are around at the right time of day). Like it's aurantiaca parent it throws a cluster of blooms. This specimen is one of my older plants of this cross and has 6 clusters of 8 - 10 blooms each.