RHH's photos with the keyword: acuensis

Sophronitis acuensis is from Brazil, as are all the species in the genus Sophronitis. It has recently beeen reclassified as Cattleya acuensis, but by any name is colorful and desirable. Its flowers are slightly smaller than the better known Sophronitis coccinea and the plant is much smaller, the individual growths only 4 cm tall, smaller than the 5 cm flowers.

This will be the last for a while in my series of orchid shots on a dark background. This is the same species I posted recently, but a close-up of a single flower. All the species in the genus Sophronitis are from Brazil and all have been recently reclassified as Cattleya, but I've continued to use the older names since those are the names to which I'm accustomed.

There are a number of species in the genus, Sophronitis (now reclassified as Cattleya). They are all from Brazil and are some of the most desirable or orchids for their bright red and orange colors and for their potential in hybridizing. They are not the easiest plants to grow, however, preferring cooler temperatures and good light. This is one of the smaller species, though it has very large flowers for the size of the plant. The photo illustrates another feature of some of these species also: the flowers increase dramatically in size after opening, often doubling their size, as is evident from the two flowers in this photo, one recently opened and still much smaller than the other flower.