Cattleya, Lindley, 1824

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 : 84

4. Cattleya subgenus Maximae (Withner) Van den Berg, stat. nov.

Basionym: Cattleya section Maximae Withner (1988: 21) . Type species: Cattleya maxima Lindley (1833 : t. 116).

Cattleya maxima is generally considered a relative of the C. labiata complex, but phylogenetic trees based on ITS only (van den Berg et al. 2000), embedded it in C. sect. Crispae . In contrast, plastid analyses indicated a position as sister group of all remaining species of Cattleya ( van den Berg et al. 2009) . Its subcylindrical pseudobulbs are anomalous for C. subg. Cattleya , despite having unifoliate leaves. The coastal form of C. maxima has tall, cylindrical pseudobulbs that resemble C. subg. Intermediae . The flowers have narrower petals and sepals than the C. labiata complex and are similar to those of species in C. ser. Cattleyodes such as C. purpurata (Lindley & Paxton 1852: 111) Van den Berg (2008: 10) or C. lobata Lindley (1848: 403) but with 4 pollinia. The mosaic of morphological characters with C. sect. Cattleya and C. ser. Cattleyodes might suggest a hybrid origin for this species, which might then also explain the highly discordant placement in plastid and nuclear topologies.