Cattleya lobata
A rock-dwelling Brazilian cattleya, long known as Laelia lobata, famous from the granite domes of Rio de Janeiro such as Pedra da Gávea. It grows on bare, sun-baked granite near the sea and flowers in lilac and purple around late spring and early summer. It is listed in CITES Appendix I. In cultivation it wants very bright light, warm days, good air movement and a drier rest after its growths mature.
Where it grows wild
Herbarium labels describe it as rupicolous, saxicolous and sun-loving, growing on granite inselbergs such as the Pedra da Gávea complex in Tijuca National Park and Alto Mourão near Niterói. It occasionally grows as an epiphyte on Myrtaceae.
The few labelled elevations are 224–406 m, with one at about 800 m. The domes rise from near sea level, so it grows within sight of the coast.
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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 3.0 licence, unmodified.