Cattleya cernua

Cattleya cernua is found in Rio de Janiero, Sao Paulo and Minas Gerais states of Brazil, Bolivia and Paraguay [S pterocarpa] as a miniature sized, hot to warm growing epiphyte or occasional lithophyte with densely clustered, subcylindric or ovoid pseudobulb with 2 or 3 basal nodes and carrying a single, apical, thickly coriaceous, broadly ovate or elliptic-ovate, obtuse or minutely apiculate leaf that blooms in the spring on a terminal, erect, 2 to 5 cm long, few [4 to 10] flowered inflorescence with nodding flowers.

Mount this species on cork and give hot to warm temperatures, bright light, high humidity, and year round water with less in cooler weather. This species is found near sealevel in Espirito Santo south to Sao Paulo state on rocky slopes or trees often so close to the sea that a slight salt spray can reach them. They can be found in seaside mangrove hammocks and then as one goes inland on the littoral plain to the coastal foothills can be found high above the canopy in lowland trees in full sun with a constant breeze so as to keep them dry even though they are in rainforest conditions.