One of the early blue hybrids was Cattleya Undine, a hybrid of a blue C. mossiae and C. intermedia var. amethystina. It was Dr. Edgar M. McPeak who was interested in making a blue lipped cross and on June 12, 1959, he made the cross and hoped that some would come out with blue tepals. The blue C. mossiae, now carrying the name 'Reineckiana, Blue Lip' ('R.B.L.' for short) sort of got its name after the variety 'Reineckiana' which was a white with purple lip. The C. mossiae was also given the clone name of 'McPeak's' and 'Blue' since he gave it to Stewart's and Bracey's without any specific clonal distinction at the time. In April of 1965, the first seedling bloomed. Although most had white tepals, many showed a touch of blue. The lip is veined a lovely blue to blue-lavender. The shape was generally good for that type hybrid.

I made a cross of C. warneri 'coerulea' "Miranda" with C. intermedia var. coerulea in hopes of getting something similar, but with a solid lip. Though they did come with a solid lip, the shape was no where close to that found in C. Undine.

Several clones were used at Stewart's in the mid sixties to make C. Persian Blue (with C. Ariel coerulea 'Bodnant's'), C. Brenda (with C. gaskelliana 'Blue Dragon'), C. Trentino (with C. warneri 'coerulea' "Miranda"), and C. Magali Sander (with C. mossiae 'Reineckiana, Blue Lip').

I was thinking that now would be a great time to remake this hybrid grex. We have superior blue C. mossiae's and with a fine C. intermedia var. coerulea acquinii we should get something really nice.

C. Undine #4

C. Undine #5

Posted to "Facebook" on 9 April 2018