Cattleya cernua
A miniature Cattleya, formerly the type species of Sophronitis, with tiny single-leaved pseudobulbs, grey-green spoon-shaped leaves and clusters of two to four bright red-orange flowers about 2.5–3 cm across. It grows on tree branches and sometimes rocks from north-east Brazil to Paraguay and north-east Argentina, often in quite exposed, warm spots. It does best mounted, in bright light, with fast wet-dry cycles.
Where it grows wild
It grows mostly as an epiphyte on twigs and branches, occasionally on rocks, in seasonal and Atlantic forest, forest edges and even isolated trees. It favours bright, airy positions where the roots dry quickly after rain.
Twenty-eight GBIF records carry an elevation, from sea level to 1035 m with a median of 500 m. It is a plant of lowlands and low hills rather than the cool mountains where related Sophronitis grow.
🔒 Growing it like that
The wild conditions above, turned into targets for a shelf, a tent or a greenhouse. The full profile has:
Grow Cattleya cernua? Add it to a free garden and its full profile opens. Pro opens all 38,374 profiles in the library, plants and fungi.
More Cattleya
Profiles are drafts built from measured range and climate and from published sources; each section carries its own confidence in the app.