Classification of cattleya trianae and its varieties by using colorimetry

Abstract

Orchids in general, like Cattleya trianae, have been characterized mostly by taxonomic and visual studies. However, colour is not used for classification. Here, a new method for identifying and classifying orchids of different varieties of Cattleya trianae is introduced. This method is not subjective and uses the colour information obtained from the central axis of the Cattleya trianae lip. To this end, a new acquisition protocol was established, which uses a new device for image acquisition of the labellum’s central axis from the hippocampus to the epicentre. The colour patterns found between samples of the same variety were adjusted and it was verified by using correlation they can be employed to identify each variety. Finally, a support vector machine was used to classify and identify four Cattleya trianae varieties, finding that a linear kernel was enough to classify them with an accuracy of 100%.