Ortgies cattleyopsis

Description

This species is sometimes confused with Broughtonia sanguinea by some taxonomists, especially those who may have seen the flowers and not the entire plant. Though the flowers are fairly similar in form and size, the lip in Ctps. ortgiesiana always completely encircles the column, a feature which never occurs in Bro. sanguinea. There are of course several obvious differences in the leaves, ie. serrated edges, roots, and pseudobulbs. It is found in Cuba as a medium sized, warm to hot growing epiphyte with clustered, cylindric to pyriform, annulate, sulcate pseudobulbs enveloped basally by several scarious sheaths and carrying 2 apical, fleshy, rigid, linear-oblong to ligulate, obtuse or obliquely emarginate, denticulate apically leaf that blooms in the late winter and early spring on a slender terminal, 3 1/2' [105 cm] long, arching, sometimes branching inflorescence with apically clustered, to 20, showy, flattened flowers.