Caspari The Classic Cattleyas - Updated Second Edition

For two centuries tropical orchids have captured the attention of all those who see them. At first mistaken as parasitic plants because they grow wild on the branches of tropical trees, they were considered nearly impossible to cultivate. But in 1818, William Cattley succeeded in flowering one of the first species of the genus that would bear his name, in his “stove,” or heated greenhouse, in England. These first cattleyas, species from the cloud forests of Central and South America pollinated by particular wasps and bees drawn to their large flowers, are the classic cattleyas whose form defined the essence of tropical orchids for generations to come. Indeed, the color of their flowers became known as “orchid.”