this spike is made up of both male and female flowers, it is not common for catasetums to do this but this is my second plant doing so in this season. this plant is catasetum ciliatum and even the male flowers itself, while in bud looks like female to untrained eyes because of the hooded appearance.
below are a few pics showing the difference of male and female ciliatum flowers while in bud
the two below is the male flower (the metal wire is a 3mm diameter wire for comparison of size)
the two pics below are female flower buds, the hood is larger and greener compare to the male one, and the pedicle is also broader compare to the male flowers
below are a few pics showing the difference of male and female ciliatum flowers while in bud
the two below is the male flower (the metal wire is a 3mm diameter wire for comparison of size)
the two pics below are female flower buds, the hood is larger and greener compare to the male one, and the pedicle is also broader compare to the male flowers
the pic below showing both the female and male flower for easier comparison (female on the right of the pic)
and off course there is no telling whether the female bud will be a pure female or a hermaphrodite until it opens =D
Gosh Ian. Cool site/blog. I accidently stumbled onto it today when I got a post from Google. Very nice. Now I have a lot more reading to do. I have the book "Plants from Test Tubes" and a tissue culture lab kit on the way. So I've been doing a lot of reading about flasking etc.
ReplyDeleteNice blog. Keep up the good work you are doing with Catasetums. Jack
thanks =D.
Deletewill be trying with some basic flasking in a few months time, waiting for the pods to be mature enough and also waiting for my media i bought on the internet to arrive as well.
hope to venture into tissue culture, just for the sake of learning but first got to own my own first orchid from flasking.
best regards