Introduced into cultivation from Honduras and first brought into flower in england in 1845 by Edward St. Vincent Digby, botanist John Lindsley named the species in Digby’s honor the following year and published it under the name Brassavola digbyana. Subsequently it was moved for a time to the genus Laelia, until 1918, when Rudolf Shlecter determined that is belonged in a separate though closely related genus and henceforth should be known as Rhyncholaelia digbyana. For orchid hybrid registration purposes it has continued to be referred to as a brassavola to avoid chaos, and so that name is the one commonly used.

Whatever the name, it is popular parent in crosses with cattleya and laelia, giving the large flower size and prized, fringed lip to many cattleya hybrids. It is also worth growing in its own right for its 4 to 6 inch greenish white flowers with lacy labellum and lemony fragrance. The narrow, silvery leaves are succulent and 8 to 10 inches long.

Respect its rest period. Water lightly and withhold fertilizer for several months after flowering. Native from Mexico to Guatemala, it needs warmth and high light and often does better on a bark mount instead of in a pot, to assuer that roots are never soggy.

Technorati Tags: , , ,