Cattleya purpurata 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 light and cool to warm conditions and is relative easy to cultive. C. purpurata has been used extensively as a parent in hybridizing with Cattleyas. Cattleya purpurata blooms from late spring to fall with three to five flowers on a
Flowering plant about 130 million years BP. However, one study has suggested that the early-middle Jurassic plant "Schmeissneria", traditionally considered a type of ginkgo, may be the earliest known angiosperm, or at least a close relative. In 2018, scientists reported that the earliest flowers began about 180 million years ago, 50 million years earlier than thought earlier. Nonetheless, circumstantial chemical evidence has been found for the existence of angiosperms as early as 250 million years ago. Oleanane, a secondary metabolite produced by many flowering plants, has been found in Permian deposits of that age together with fossils of gigantopterids. Gigantopterids are a