Cattleya section Lawrenceanae Van den Berg, 2014

Berg, Cássio Van Den, 2014, Reaching a compromise between conflicting nuclear and plastid phylogenetic trees: a new classification for the genus Cattleya (Epidendreae; Epidendroideae; Orchidaceae), Phytotaxa 186 (2), pp. 75-86 : 82

1.3. Cattleya section Lawrenceanae Van den Berg , sect. nov.

Similar to section Cattleya at first sight, but the species are native to warmer areas. Species in this section also present anomalous morphologies in relation to section Cattleya : Cattleya lueddemanniana differs from section Cattleya by the conspicuous unciform projections in the column apex, C. lawrenceana by the flowers and column smaller, resembling Guarianthe , and C. wallisii and C. lueddemanniana in its narrow pseudobulbs and frequently suberect leaves that are narrow at the base.

Type species: C. lawrenceana Reichenbach (1885: 338)

This new section includes plants at first sight similar to the C. labiata complex. However, they occupy lowland, warmer habitats and bear morphological peculiarities not seen anywhere else in the genus. Flowers of C. lawrenceana have a tubular lip and very small column like species now assigned to Guarianthe Dressler & Higgins (2003: 37) e.g. G. skinneri ( Bateman 1839: t. 13) Dressler & Higgins (2003: 38). Cattleya lueddemmaniana Reichenbach (1858: 29) and C. wallisii ( Linden 1865: 102) Rollison (1875: 11) are smaller plants than in sect. Cattleya , and the leaves are more erect and slightly elongated at the base. Cattleya lueddemannniana has unusual projections at the tip of the anther, a character also present in C. maxima Lindley (1833: 116) and C. iricolor . This character is of doubtful homology, or it might represent a plesiomorphic state conserved in early divergent branches within sections Cattleya , Lawrenceanae and Maximae.