The Gardeners’ Chronicle ser. 3 vol. 8: 684 (1890)
Notable varieties:
Despite the similarity of most flowers, of course, C. rex still has the normal color types for which all the large-flowered Cattleya species are famous. There is a very rare alba form, a semialba, and a pale pastel delicata. There are C. rex, with solid crimson lips, and a few clones with splashes of yellow in the sepals and petals. Not all C. rex are 7 inches across, as were the flowers O’Brien and Linden saw. Harry Blossfeld seems to have imported a number that were in the 6- to 7-inch range, but most C. rex are closer to 4 inches across. Cattleya rex is one of the most floriferous of the large-flowered Cattleya species, and will normally produce five or six flowers on a spike, and there are records of as many as nine and 10 flowers.
- C. rex ‘Splash Mariza’ – Angela Mirro’s grand watercolor, is so outspoken in its praise of C. rex that it spent the entire spring this year on display at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC, shown on book page 198
- C. rex ‘Purple Flare’ – has unusual purple tinge along the center vein of the petals, shown on book page 134
- C. rex ‘Grande’ – unusually large and bold variety, shown on book page 135
Notable Primaries:
- C. Triumphans (C. dowiana x C. rex) – had yellow-petaled flowers, so in reality, there are two yellow large-flowered Cattleya species
Unifoliate Cattleyas 