Cattleya purpurata spike. The flowers are long-lasting and fragrant. "Cattleya × elegans" is a hybrid orchid with a formula hybridae "Cattleya purpurata" (Lindl. & Paxton) Van den Berg (2008) × "Cattleya tigrina" A.Rich. (1848). It is found in South and South-East Brazil. Cattleya purpurata Cattleya purpurata, known in the past as Laelia purpurata and Sophronitis purpurata, is native to Brazil where it is very popular among orchid growers. It is an epiphyte that is found in the canopy of tall trees near coastal areas, in the Brazilian states of Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina and São Paulo. The orchid favors bright
Flowering plant in exceptional cases. The characteristic feature of angiosperms is the flower. Flowers show remarkable variation in form and elaboration, and provide the most trustworthy external characteristics for establishing relationships among angiosperm species. The function of the flower is to ensure fertilization of the ovule and development of fruit containing seeds. The floral apparatus may arise terminally on a shoot or from the axil of a leaf (where the petiole attaches to the stem). Occasionally, as in violets, a flower arises singly in the axil of an ordinary foliage-leaf. More typically, the flower-bearing portion of the plant is sharply distinguished from