Cattleya
Botanically speaking this is the group with the biggest naming "error". What today is available as "Cattleya" in both pot plants as well as cut flowers are really very complex hybrids, involving several genera, of which "Cattleya" is only 1.
Beauty apparently lies in the eyes of the beholder, but for me Cattleya are clearly amongst the most stunning of commercial orchids. Not as long lasting and definitely more fragile and therefore less popular with florists than the more common and hardy Cymbidium, these flowers stunn in both their colours as well as their delicate texture, which at times almost seems see through. Due to almost centuries of hybridising and selective breeding Cattleya today are available in sizes from as large as dinner plates to as tiny as coins and range in color from white and delicate shades of lavender through to bright oranges and yellow. Blue is not really found in Cattleya and true pink is very rare.
