Catasetum Planiceps

[euplusia]

It turned out to be Catasetum macroglossum, male flowers.

[orchidsarefun]

Male or female? Looks to be female...



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---------- Post added at 07:51 AM ---------- Previous post was at 07:31 AM ----------

I think these are male......from the positioning of the petals.

See Kuvanuru's explanation

http://www.orchidboard.com/community...planiceps.html

and that is assuming these are fully "open"

[euplusia]

Male flowers. Antennae inside of the hood, anther cap at the bottom of the entrance. A matchstick can give you the proof.

[orchidsarefun]

Originally Posted by euplusia

Male flowers. Antennae inside of the hood, anther cap at the bottom of the entrance. A matchstick can give you the proof.

plse explain what you mean by that......is it to trigger the pollen release ? How is that accomplished with a matchstick ?

[Rowangreen]

Looking at a few pics, I think Euplusia might be right: it does look like macroglossum rather than planiceps. The shape of the peak of the hood is different (and macroglossum looks spookier!). That is unless the pics I'm looking at are wrong LOL

[orchidsarefun]

Hmm...thing is there absolutely no yellow in or around the flower. On the other hand the outside petal is dry and wrinkly. My one also has a minty/licorice scent. Does macroglossum have a similar scent? Another thing, I got this from an aos judge. I will certainly give her feedback if this is a macroglossum.

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[Rowangreen]

I'm new to all this, just looking at a few photos, don't know what the actual official distinguising features are!

To me, on my computer, it does look like there's a hint of yellow around the peak/brim/edge/whatever you call it of the hood. And it's got 3 little 'teeth' rather than an upward v.

No idea about the 'correctness' of scents either, though it sounds nice!

Just looked on RHS: the only cross done with macroglossum is with expansum: catasetum Sodiroi (or x sodiroi or x trilobatum). So if you do decide it is macroglossum you've still got something little used.

And you get to embarrass a judge. LOL

[euplusia]

Antennae as the characteristics of Catasetums (translated downward facing awns or antennae) and the sexual organ of male flowers are shown in the drawing here
http://darwin-online.org.uk/content/...&viewtype=text

If you touch them slightly with a matchstick, you trigger to shoot out the pollen.

Female flowers are characterized by a transversal stigmatic cleft. Our member Ian has posted a nice video about pollination in his blog here

catasetum-ian: catasetum pollination

To the right under the label macroglossum you find a link to this species.

Have fun.

[catasetum-ian]

about to say "it is not planicpes" when i saw the first pic in this thread. planiceps has a erect spike, not an arching spike.
i am all with Eplusia. a macroglossum with it with no doubt and if you wanna do some studying, can cut the labellum into half and you will find a orange color callus on the reverse side of the hood (meanings that the callus is hiding behind the hood)....happy dissecting

[orchidsarefun]

well today I found a "pollen sac covering" stuck to the side of another pbulb. I thought ?!!!!! and decided to dissect the other 2 flowers furthest from the projectile to retrieve their pollen too.
I couldn't for the life of me find the pollen in the dissected flowers and thought to myself something is way wrong. I looked all over for the other pollen projectiles and found them - 2 to 3 feet away from where I had the mother plant ! On the floor !
The plant was undisturbed and I think that the flowers reach a certain age and then.....shoot.

See photos - and maybe these also confirm that this is a macroglossum ? I need to store the pollen. Would wrapped in a coffee filter, then a plastic bag, then refrigeration work ?





BTW - I still don't know where the pollen sac is when its in the flower......