Leptotes (plant) are mounted on plaques of vegetal fiber or tree cork. Watering and fertilizer must be more frequent during active growth periods and less during dormant periods. Ideal growth conditions require an intermediate temperature and exposure to filtered sunlight. In April 1833, an unknown species from the Serra dos Órgãos mountains of Brazil blossomed in the greenhouse of Mrs. Arnold Harrison, an English collector of orchids homaged in diverse descriptions of noted species such as "Bifrenaria harrisoniae" and "Cattleya harrisoniana". A short time later, Mrs. Harrison sent a drawing and cutting of this plant to the botanist John Lindley, who verified
Cattleya rex rose and red. Sepals narrowly elliptic; petals ovate, elliptic or rhomboid; lip folded to form a tube, with very wavy front margin. Pollinia 4, with curved appendages. James O'Brien described the species for the first time in 1890 from a live flowering plant collected in the area of Moyobamba, San Martín by Mr. Bungeroth and cultivated at L'Horticulture International, Brussels, by Mr. L. Linden. That was the first known flowering plant outside the native habitat of "C. rex". "C. rex" is known from a few localities in the regions of San Martin and Puno in Peru and the department of