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Species library › Cattleya › Cattleya iricolor
Orchids Well documented

Cattleya iricolor

A fragrant unifoliate Cattleya from the humid eastern Andean foothills of Ecuador and Peru. It bears six to ten cream to yellowish flowers about 8 cm across, with narrow sepals and petals. It grows high on tree branches at about 400-1,200 m and has been listed as Vulnerable by the IUCN. Grow it warm-intermediate, bright and humid, with no hard dry rest.

Cattleya iricolor
Photo: Claire H. from New York City, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
At home, aim for
Day Warm-growingTargets in Plantistry
Night Close to the dayTargets in Plantistry
Humidity Ordinary room humidityBand in Plantistry
Light Bright, filtered lightDLI and PPFD in Plantistry
No rest periodGrows on trees (epiphyte)

Where it grows wild

An epiphyte on the branches of tall trees in humid montane and foothill forest on the eastern slope of the Andes. Specimens come from Napo, Pastaza, Orellana, Sucumbíos and Morona-Santiago in Ecuador, and from Junín in Peru.

Spanish Wikipedia gives 400-1,220 m and English Wikipedia about 1,000 m. GBIF specimens with elevations run 400-898 m, most at 700-850 m.

EcuadorPeru

🔒 Growing it like that

The wild conditions above, turned into targets for a shelf, a tent or a greenhouse. The full profile has:

✓ Day and night temperature targets, and the limits it tolerates
✓ Humidity band, and how to hold it
✓ Light as DLI and PPFD for a grow light
✓ Wet and dry seasons, and whether to rest it
✓ Substrate and airflow
✓ A step-by-step setup to grow it like the wild

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Profiles are drafts built from measured range and climate and from published sources; each section carries its own confidence in the app. Photo from Wikimedia Commons, used under its CC BY-SA 2.0 licence, unmodified.