catasetum ciliatum

this species is readily identified by its ciliated lip margin and the velvety of the inner labellum. the catasetum ciliatum. it has a pair of short stout trigger pollina, resembles a pair of fangs (same goes to its closely related species namely the roseoalbum, longifolium and gardneri under the pseudocatasetum group). the spike is erected in nature and epiphytic in nature as well.
it is recently that i learn that ciliatum is not a synonym for ctsm discolor. two closely resemblance species, from one internet citation there is 65% genetic similarity. however the ciliatum is identified by the presence of the purplish brown velvety stripes on the inner labellum with the more dark colored frimbriated lip margin near the tip of the labellum and in nature the ciliatum is epiphytic while the discolor is terrestial in nature.
ciliatum sepals and petal are curled, greenish white in color. the rim of the labellum is whithish with dark purplish browh tip. the appearance of the small flower is sometimes described as resemblance to a bee at flight.

first and second picture below is the appearance of part of the spike

close up of the pic, the inner velvety of the labellum and the cilia on the periphery is visible here

pic below showing closeup of the trigger pollina, as mentioned earlier, "fangs"

catasetum cirrhaeoides 'claro'

 i posted this quite sometime before however feel like posting this again because the spike this small little plant is putting out is very showy. 21 flowers in a spike. though i had seen spike with >21 flowers in a single spike for this species, but this is my first catasetum species that had more than 20 flowers in a spike for me.

catasetum x sodiroi

another item to be added to the natural hybrid collection, but i am still awaiting reply from the vendor to see if it is a sodiroi or x sodiroi. this is a hybrid between macroglossum and expansum. as you can see the flowers has all the characteristic of the expansum , the prominent callus just ventral to the sac of the labellum and also the almost ninety degree column to the labellum. the difference is the lateral lobes of the labellum will never open fully as what an expansum will. in fact there are some 'espansum' that will open much further laterally than what i had here but never properly expanded. these plants most likely to have some macroglossum gene in them but the appearance mimics the expansum parents. 

Catasetum John C. Burchett x Susan Fuchs

this is a complex hybrid, external appearance had high similarity with some variety of susan fuchs.

catasetum (socco x pileatum ) = ctsm Mary Spencer
catasetum Mary Spencer x catasetum imperiale = catasetum Joao Stivali
catasetum Joao Stivali x Susan Fuchs = catasetum John C. Burchett
catasetum Susan Fuchs = ctsm expansum x Orchidglade
and catasetum Orchidglade - ctsm expansum x pileatum

catasetum pileatum 'green gold; x catasetum susan fuchs - Ctsm Penang type II

another sibling of the Ctsm Pileatum 'Green Gold' x Ctsm Susan Fuchs, i labelled this as Ctsm Penang type II. the flower has a prominent whitish callus, unlike the sibblings which is entirely maroon red. however the flower size is much bigger, the biggest one is about 8.5mm, with range of 7.9 to 8.5 cm.

catasetum imperiale

this species was initially named catasetum pileatum var 'imperiale' but was later recognized to be a species by itself. another synonym is catasetum bungerothii var imperiale. the word imperiale is to used to denote the large bright color flower of this species.
some believe that it is still a variety of a pileatum, some regarded it as a species of its own and it is even thought be a natural cross between a macrocarpum and a pileatum, HOWEVER artificial crossing of these two species fails to reproduce any close resemblance of this species. one of the more commonly known cultivar of this species is the 'Pierre Courret'.

this plant came with an infected psedobulb, initially got the infection controlled and soon a new growth appears. but when the new growth's spike is semi developed, the backbulb started to turn yellow and one of the flower buds fell as well.
upon removal of the infected bulb i thought the whole spike is a goner but luckily three made it. although the imperiale is sort after by many catasetum collectors, but my favorite is still the white pileatum.

appearance of the spike, 3 flowers

close up on the lip

catasetum pollination

for those who had been asking (including myself when i first started off with this genera), i would like to take this opportunity to show those that are interested in catasetum pollination

below here the first pic is the pic of a female flower, focusing the the stigma cap (the white structure sitting on top of the stigma cavity). the other light green structure with a pointed tip is the beak anther.
to start pollination, remove off the stigma cap, it has a sticky part that resembles the viscidum of the male pollen,

below the video clip shows the deposition of the pollina onto the stigma cavity. sorry that it is a little 'shaky' as i was doing it single handed while the other hand is holding the camera. 

the second pic below is how i labelled my plants after the pollinaiton. ALWAYS labelled them after you are done. included in the tag is the crosses of the parents, the pollen parent and the date of pollination. once the tag is lost, it is merely impossible to identify the crossing when they flowered, this is especially true for complex hybrids that involves back cross. (a single pod can give rise to progeny with different colors, shapes and pattern of hybrids)

a catasetum pods may take up tp 8-9 months for maturity but for sowing purpose, i harvest them when they are 75% mature at least. sowing a green pod is easier as one can skipped off the seed sterilizing process.
HOWEVER i had heard and experience it myself that some pods had a much shorter maturity time, the recent one i had was three months four days. initially i could not believe it myself either till i opened up the cracked seed pod and there is tonnes of seeds in it. 

below is an update on the progress of the five seed pods with labels attach. if the pods manage to mature, may try sowing with commercial media this time. will update in this thread if i do.

update on progress of the seed pod 7/1/2013

(pic below)

pic taken on 12/2/2013 (pic below), pod attaining full size 

22/2/13, one of the seed pod did not make it. down to three pods left. what a bummer....the seed pod on the left of the pic is discolored. 

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