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This story was
told by Heitor Gloeden , on his book "A
Jóia da Bruxa" and is been reproduced with permission of the editor.
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VERY UNUSUAL FLOWER Cattleya intermedia var. flammea 'Aquini' |
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| Cattleya intermedia var. flammea 'Aquini' - vinicolor |
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Among Brazilian plants that present more varieties, one of the most outstanding
is, no doubt about, Cattleya intermedia and, among them, one of the most
wonderful and exotic is the variety 'Aquini'. From 1874 to 1876, Antonio J. da Silva Valadares, who lived in Porto Alegre, received from different places, mainly from the surroundings of his town, trunks or parts of branches replete of C. intermedia. He put them on the trees he had in his country house. The most part of the trunks was cork trees (to the gaúchos - people who born in the state of Rio Grande do Sul - to us, is "suinã" and scientifically is Erytrina) as, although they can also be found in enormous clumps in "butiá" trees, also known as "coqueiro-jataí", very common at the sea-shore, in Rio Grande do Sul, and, in this case, collecting them is not easy due to the way they root in those plants. So, in this way, Valadares decorated his country house and set up his nursery, one of the first in Rio Grande do Sul. Among the plants he received, an unusual, exotic has flowered and attracted attention by the design, different from the Cattleya intermedia type. Among those people who saw it blooming, there was an enthusiastic orchid lover, Francisco D'Aquino, who most loved and showed himself too much interested in it. Due to the great friendship existing between them, the plant has been offered to him and Aquino divided it his in many cutting scions, little by little, distributed to other friends. I think that even Urbano Kley has received one. Francisco D'Aquino was also friend and collaborator of Ms. Barbosa Rodrigues, by this time, Director of the Botanical Garden of Rio de Janeiro, he sent to him a scion to be filed and classed. The plant has been described and classed by Barbosa Rodrigues and registered in "Plantas Novas Cultivadas no Jardim Botânico do Rio de Janeiro" (New plants cultivated in Botanical Garden of Rio de Janeiro) as a new species (not a variety), named Cattleya aquini, to pay homage to Francisco D'Aquino, in 1891. It is worth noting that even Barbosa Rodrigues found it very close to Cattleya intermedia, what has been confirmed later, when it was classified as 'Aquini' variety. This plant had great success in England when published with the respective engraving in "Gardeners' Chronicle", in 1900. In 1904, it has been showed for the first time, in London by the amateur grower Lawrence, getting a Certificate of Merit . Nowadays it is scientifically demonstrated that it is a matter of one of the several varieties of C. intermedia which transmits to its progeny the wonderful attributes, confirmed by the enormous quantity of hybrids. It is believed that the first one which flowered was mad by Stuart Low Co. We can note the gap existing between its discovery, register and came to world 's notice, that was due to the difficult ways of information in olden times. Later, many C. intermedia flamed appeared (peloria showed in the petals), some with the strong coloring, similar to the color of the central lobe of the lip. We will still talk about them. |
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