Since I visited the habitat of Cattleya granulosa back in 2006, I have been planning another visit. However, for several reasons that did not happen until a couple of months ago. What actually triggered the visit now was some sense of urgency after preparing a talk on conservation of Brailian Cattleya species. There, I realized that Cattleya granulosa was probably one of the most threatened species in the genus for several reasons. Among these, the limited distribution of the northern range and the fact that, back in 2006, I found out that habitat destruction for development was getting quite extensive. In 2006, I also visited the southern range around Recife and the situation was not very different. This time I visited only the northern range as I decided to stay a little longer there to explore a bit more. Visiting the southern range will have to wait for another time.
Glad I did, and this time we actually found more plants than in 2006. Having a chance to visit more areas gave me a better idea of the habitat situation and how the populations are faring. In general, except for a few localized pockets, the populations are extremely healthy and the quantity of seedlings in all development stages well attests this. The quantity of seed pods was also quite impressive so yes, a very healthy habitat.
Photos included here show the color variation of the flowers of the species, which is of course a result of genetic variation. But also, our friend and guide pointed out something very interesting about flower color. Some individuals have brown flowers when they open but as the weeks progress they fade to a washed-out yellow and this is mostly due to light exposure. We had a chance to see quite a few plants showing this, with new flowers much darker than weeks older ones.
Another widespread species in the region is Epidendrum cinnabarinum. This one has a much wider coastal distribution down at least to the state of Bahia. The large orange to red flowers are very showy and allow good photography. Other interesting species include cacti and several types of shrubs, of which I added a couple here for variety and to prevent boring viewers with so much Cattleya granulosa.
The following pictures are more or less in chronological order, considering that we stayed only a few days, and new trips are already being planned. The region deserves a more thorough inspection, and the sample photos hopefully give a good idea of to expect there.
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