# Cattleya Triumphans (rex 'Imperialis' x dowiana var. aurea)



## terryros (May 20, 2021)

Here is a picture of a flower from the current 3-flower blooming of my Cattleya Triumphans (rex ‘Imperialis’ x dowiana var. aurea) with a horizontal NS of 13.25 cm. It was taken indoors with an iPhone under an LED flat panel with a color temperature setting of 5000K. (Please see a separate post for a comparison of this flower under different lighting conditions.) It has fairly strong and pleasant fragrance. My nose isn’t trained enough to tell if it is more dowiana or rex.



If you like orchid flowers but not so much the history, details, or science of the plants, you can skip everything else below. Cattleya Triumphans was registered in 1904 and was the first hybrid to carry some yellow forward from Cattleya dowiana. Triumphans has been remade only intermittently over the years. I purchased my plant from Orchids Limited and it was a seedling from a cross made by John Stanton of The Orchid Trail in North Carolina using rex ‘Imperialis’, but I do not know the specific dowiana parent. Chadwick’s discuss Triumphans and mention this particular Orchid Trail cross in a 2014 piece which is linked below:

Cattleya Triumphans

I don’t have access to European records of awards for this hybrid but there are 3 AOS awards for Triumphans, all between 2012 and 2018. As noted by Chadwicks, the 2012 AM awarded cultivar was ‘Summer Moon’, shown by Keith Davis, and it came from the same Orchid Trail cross. ‘Summer Moon’ had four flowers with a horizontal NS of 13.7 cm.

Cattleya Triumphans is not a complex large, full, bright-yellow hybrid but it is at the beginning of most such plants and I have come to appreciate its more open form, paler yellow petals/sepals, and striking lip.


----------



## monocotman (May 20, 2021)

It is absolutely beautiful! I’d love to find one but they are very rare in Europe,
David


----------



## dodidoki (May 20, 2021)

Absolutely winner at me!


----------



## abax (May 20, 2021)

Beautiful Catt. and one I don't see all that often. A very good photo in my opinion.


----------



## My Green Pets (May 20, 2021)

Beautiful Terry. Do you know anything about 'Imperialis' ? There is no record of an awarded rex with that name in the AOS database. I would like to know what made it special, if anything.
I would assume that the fragrance is dowiana, as my rexes have very light fragrances.
There has been a revival in interest of Triumphans in the past few years. H & R was offering compots of a rex 4N x dowiana 4N last year. Carter and Holmes as well as Chadwick's have both remade the cross and have flasks coming on. It's no wonder, this has got to be the best primary cross of all the unifoliates.


----------



## terryros (May 21, 2021)

Everything I know about this particular cross comes from (a) Chadwicks post identifying Keith Davis’ plant as coming from the specific cross by Orchid Trail and (b) Jerry Fischer confirming to me that he obtained seedlings from this same cross. Someone might know John Stanton and Orchid Trail to say something about rex ‘Imperialis’. I am equally interested in the cultivar of dowiana var. aurea that was used.


----------



## Duck Slipper (May 21, 2021)

Beautiful!


----------



## PhragNewbie021 (May 21, 2021)

Wow! What a GORGEOUS orchid!


----------



## DrLeslieEe (May 21, 2021)

My Green Pets said:


> Beautiful Terry. Do you know anything about 'Imperialis' ? There is no record of an awarded rex with that name in the AOS database. I would like to know what made it special, if anything.
> I would assume that the fragrance is dowiana, as my rexes have very light fragrances.
> There has been a revival in interest of Triumphans in the past few years. H & R was offering compots of a rex 4N x dowiana 4N last year. Carter and Holmes as well as Chadwick's have both remade the cross and have flasks coming on. It's no wonder, this has got to be the best primary cross of all the unifoliates.


Remaking old hybrids with better parents is the trend these days. Results are often spectacular as seen here.


----------



## Ozpaph (May 22, 2021)

beautiful


----------

