Catasetum expansum

[hamizao]

My Catasetum expansum was in bloom recently. You may view a few more images in my album.

[kavanaru]

hamizao, this is a very nice Catasetum. Do you have another picture, showing better the lip? I am almost sure this is not Ctsm expansum but Ctsm pileatum... However, I cannot see in these picture very well, whether the typical expansum callus is well formed in the center of the lip or not (looks like not!)

[Lagoon]

So beautiful

[kavanaru]

Hamizao, I just visited your website... there are better pics of your plant there, and yes, 100% sure: this is a gorgeous Ctsm pileatum!

[isurus79]

Those flowers look HUGE! Congrats! Really nice.

[nancy]

I agree with Ramon, this is a very beautiful pileatum. A rose by another name...
Cheers - Nancy

[Anisa]

Beautiful. I am sorry but this genius is still new to me. What is the difference between expansum and pileatum?

[kavanaru]

expansum and pileatum are "somehow similar", however, the labellum of pileatum is a bit rounder and somehow more elegant.. of course, this is very subjective, so let's go for the diagnostic differences.

both pileatum and expansum have a more or less marcant depression in the "middle" of the labellum, however, expansum has always a very distinctive callus in front of it Catasetum expansum 2010-03-14 01 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
Catasetum pileatum 'Christina' | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
Also, the labellum of expansum tends to reflex strongly while pileatum does not (Note: Recently I have had a discussion with a friend who showed me a photo of a pileatum from south of Rio Negro, which aparently can have reflexed labellum too. He mentioned that apparently this is not uncommon in this population... I only know that photo!)

both species can have a very wide range of colors, being the tipo of pileatum white and the tipo of expansum greenish.. but you can find both species in yellow, green, white, red, bicolored, with spots... note: the spots in expansum are normally large and "bulky", while in pileatum they are very small and "never" bulky (note that I have written "never"... this is my understanding of this species, but cannot discard the possibility that at least one plant has bulky spots - there is a lot of genetic introgression from macrocarpum and possibly other species into pileatum!)

[Bolero]

Very nice! I wish I could grow these beauties.

Thanks for sharing.

[hamizao]

Thanks guys for the discussion. My other Ctsm (from the same parent) is in bloom right now and another one is having a developing spike. The flowers are not fully blooming yet and they are about 6cm across and in hight. The petals and sepals and especially the 2 petals, have a tinge of stripy reddish colouration. This I expect to slowly turn to a lighter colour as the flowers mature.

I get the male flowers by putting the plants in a more shady part of the pergola.

I have added more pics to my album. I hope they will help with the identification. I will re-label if necessary.