The Gardeners’ chronicle 20: 404 (1883)

This extraordinary species of Cattleya was discovered in 1881 by William Arnold, collector of the Sanders house, in the state of Trujillo in western Venezuela. In 1882, H. G. Riechembach hastened to describe it, by publication in the Gardener’s Chronicle, as a variety of Cattleya labiata from some dried flowers sent by Mr. Sanders. A year later, James O’Brien, through publication in the same magazine, gave it the rank of a species with the name it maintains today. Cattleya percivaliana is known as “The Flower of the Liberator” thanks to the legend that tells how the Liberator Simón Bolívar, during the Admirable Campaign as he passed through the Merida Andes, received some “parasitic lilies” from some peasants with the last name Chacón, whose flowers great beauty captivated him so much that he decided to take several plants with him to give as gifts on his way through other countries as a symbol of good will.

Cattleya percivaliana is endemic to Venezuela, from the western region of the country, in the mountains of the Andes. Originally reported in the states of Trujillo, Mérida and Táchira, its habitat today is reduced to a small area in the state of Trujillo. Between the parallels 9° and 10° north latitude and the meridians 70° and 71° west longitude.

It grows between 1400 and 2000 meters above sea level. Despite being the highest growing Venezuelan Cattleya, in cultivation they can adapt very well to warmer climates. It can be found as an epiphyte in humid forests, or as a lithophyte on steep cliffs near river courses in full sun exposure. In cultivation it does not tolerate direct sun.

It is a compact plant, its pseudobulbs are oblong to obovoid, slightly compressed laterally, attenuated towards the base, with two (rarely three) internodes, up to 20 cm long, always unifoliate. Its leaves are quite leathery, elliptical. The spathe is simple, green, does not dry out when the plant blooms. Plants that grow higher, on rocks and in full sun, tend to be smaller.

It blooms between September and November, in clusters of up to 5 flowers, small compared to its Venezuelan sisters. They reach about 15 cm in diameter, or up to 18 cm in plants called “grandifloras”. In general, its shape is good, with wide and flat petals. The lip is curly, sometimes with the notch of the frontal lobe very marked, which forces the disc to turn downwards.

To easily identify the species we can rely on the following aspects: first, the characteristic smell of burnt oil from its flowers. Then, the coloration of the lip is very particular: the reddish purple, when superimposed on the background yellow color, shows a dark brown hue that is very characteristic. Also, the purple color of the disk always occurs as clusters of dots, specks, or a solid patch, never in streaks or striations.

In addition to the type variety, it is common to find albs and semialba, but not coeruleas, which are still extremely rare to see in cultivation. The varieties of this species are the ones that have received the most popular names in Venezuela, which is quite rare in our country. For example, some albs are called “Oro Cochano” because of the golden yellow color of their labellum, others are called “Yellow Egg”. As for the semialba, some are known as “Centro Guayaba” and others as “Centro Chocolate”, due to the tone that the mixture of pink with yellow gives on the labellum. These semialba barely show a slight all over very pale lilac on the lip.

The only semialba with an intense purple lip bears the name of “Carache”, only she and her daughters share that characteristic. This clone is mistakenly known in other countries as “Farah Diba” because a plant was given to Queen Farah Diba, wife of the Shah of Iran Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, on a visit to Venezuela in 1975. In the United States it is also Known as “Jewel”. On the other hand, many plants known as semialba are actually albescens, because they show a very slight pinkish hue to their petals and sepals. This is the case of the famous “Sonia de Urbano” and most of her daughters.

Some 25 years ago, a very dark-colored plant appeared in cultivation that was called “Remolacha”, because its buds were as reddish and dark as the roots of beet (Beta vulgaris), but when the flower opened it presented a tessellated deep purple to white color pattern that was thought to be caused by a virus. Years later this plant was used in breeding programs and today we have a few beets of uniform color and extraordinary shape. In the same way, there are plants whose flowers have a lilac to moderate purple color, but their lip is completely intense reddish-purple that completely covers the yellow of the throat. This variety is known as “Centro Remolacha”.

Among the clones worth mentioning we have:

• type: Summit, Antonio Alvarado, Albert’s, Shibui, Luis Eduardo, La Unión, Héctor Alvarez
• alba: Oro Cochano, Carmelina, Negro Orozco, La Puerta
• semialba: Carache, Fiorella
• albescens: Sonia, Ana Beatriz
• caerulea: Undine

Notable varieties:

Cattleya percivaliana’s fragrance is usually described as “spicy” and most people like it. But, not everyone does, and it is the only Cattleya species which fragrance’s being doubted as pleasant and desirable.

• C. percivaliana f. alba ‘Lady Holford’ FCC/RHS (1913)
• C. percivaliana f. alba FCC/RHS (1884) – exhibited by R.P. Percival
• C. percivaliana f. semialba ‘Charlesworth’ FCC/RHS (1909) – the most famous semialba, which has a classic deep-reddish-purple lip that makes a striking constrast against the white sepals and petals
• C. percivaliana f. semialba ‘Jewel’ – commonly available semialbas today, it lacks the intense coloration of ‘Charlesworth’s’ lip, shown on Chadwick’s book page 116
• C. percivaliana ‘Summit’ AM-FCC/AOS – the most famous lavender clone which has a squarer shape than most other clones of C. percivaliana, they were grown for cut flowers by such growers as Lager and Hurrell, shown on Chadwick’s book page 115
• C. percivaliana ‘Grandiflora’ AM/RHS (1916) – there have been clones that had a 7-inch petal spread, but these have been very rare; ‘Grandiflora’ today is applied to any large-flowered clones, particularly those with good shape and a wider than normal lip
• C. percivaliana ‘Westonbirt’ AM/RHS (1910) – very impressive dark lavender form

Notable Primaries:

• C. Leda (C. percivaliana x C. dowiana) – Cattleya percivaliana has good shape and rich dark color. Add to this C. dowiana’s well-known effect of intensifying the color of other purple cattleya flowers, and C. Leda becomes not only a beautiful flower in its own right, but also a promising parent for dark purple hybrids.