Cattleya Orchid and Three Hummingbirds Cattleya Orchid and Three Hummingbirds Cattleya Orchid and Three Hummingbirds (1871) is an oil on mahogany panel picture by Martin Johnson Heade acquired by the National Gallery of Art in 1982. Inspired perhaps by the works of Charles Darwin and Frederic Edwin Church, Heade planned to produce a deluxe book in the 1860s depicting Brazilian hummingbirds in tropical settings, and, to that end, created a series of 40 small pictures called "The Gems of Brazil". The project was abandoned, but Heade retained his interest in hummingbirds and continued to paint them in combination with orchids and jungle backgrounds through the
Cattleya aclandiae found growing in the wind southwest of Salvador on elevated plateaus that border the drainage of the Paraguaca River. Its native habitat is seasonally dry forests between 100 and 400 meters in elevation near permanent bodies of water. "Cattleya aclandiae" is compact and only grows tall. The upright, short, cylindrical pseudobulbs have two fleshy leaves at the apex. Sometimes, purple blotches are found on the leaves when the plants are exposed to intense sunlight. Each growth produces between one and three and the flowers are large for the size of the plant. Flowers are substantial, waxy, and long-lived. Flower color