We are counting down to our 1000th Orchid of the Day with a tour around the tropical world and our student expeditions through the medium of our September flowering orchids.

Our first tropical school expedition was to Brazil in 2000 as hosts of the Rio Atlantic Forest Trust and our first contact with the genus Cattleya in the wild.

Cattleya loddigesii grows near the Atlantic coast of Brail from 600-900m and was once common in the swampy forests along the regions rivers including the Rio Grande, Rio Tiete, Rio Pardo. Unfortunately much of this forest is now gone and in Brazil we drove through an area where the species had been recorded which is now treeless low grade pasture.

We have a few clones of Cattleya loddigesii and this is a smaller growing clone donated by a Wiltshire orchid grower around twenty-five years ago.

We find the species thrives in a basket hanging in the roof of Warm Americas where it gets lots of light and dries out between watering.