A few Catasetums....
 

Cycnodes Wine Delight ‘Jumbo Orchids’ - 3 spikes on this one that are now done and it's almost lost all it's leaves but it's now starting to kick out a 4th spike. This one took a blue ribbon at our last meeting and plant of the month. Smells like cherry cough medicine. [I trimmed the leaves because they were going dormant and they were hiding the flowers]
http://i405.photobucket.com/albums/p...psa4478e6b.jpg
http://i405.photobucket.com/albums/p...pse83063ce.jpg

Clowesetum Dragon’s Treasure ‘Cardrona’
http://i405.photobucket.com/albums/p...ps08d07146.jpg
http://i405.photobucket.com/albums/p...pscb143a9a.jpg
http://i405.photobucket.com/albums/p...ps841e2a84.jpg

Catasetum (Doris Choice x Breckenridge Onyx) x (Susan Fuchs x spitzii)
http://i405.photobucket.com/albums/p...psd559dfd4.jpg
http://i405.photobucket.com/albums/p...ps04e081f0.jpg

Catasetum saccatum
http://i405.photobucket.com/albums/p...ps87683ad3.jpg
http://i405.photobucket.com/albums/p...ps43946fd5.jpg

Totally awesome.

Kim

:agree:

Amazing, love all of them and what a growing room you got there totally awesome.

Great show !
The Cycnodes is a monster (in a nice way)!!!
The one I love the most is Clowesetum, cmay I ask where you got it from?

Fantastic !!! :yikes:

Wow they are all incredible. Thanks for sharing them!

Wow! What a spectacular show!!! Thank you for sharing

They are gorgeous!

Wow @ Katrina these are amazing! I love your clowesia.

Fabulous!

Great growing Katrina! What is that monster plant growing behind and to the right of your Wine Delight in the first pic?

Wow and wow and wow, stunning, all of them, you have quite a display! Amazing!

These are fantastic! Great growing!

Thanks for all the wonderful comments everyone! :) Glad you like them.



A friend in FL gave me this division a little more than a year ago. This is the first time I've bloomed it and I fell in love the minute I saw the flowers. Very much like Grace Dunn but much, MUCH pinker. Now that's it's established under my growing conditions, I suspect the bloom will be even better next year.

Thanks isurus! If you're talking about the really bushy one...that is a Morm tuxtlensis...that's in dire need of dividing. It didnt' bloom as well this year and I suspect it's because it's simply gotten too overgrown. Some of the Ctsm are the exact opposite of most other orchids in that when they get too big the flower count can go backwards. BTW - it's one that never goes completely dormant....kind of interesting, I thought.

Again...thanks for all the great comments!

Wine Delight has been on my wish list for a while now. Yours is amazing! 4th spike coming? oh, my!

I also like the last one. not my kind of flowers, but very interesting in every way! lol

Outstanding, strong monsters.

Thanks for the kind comments, NYC and Euplusia! :)

The color and profusion of blooms of the first one is especially wonderful!

Thank you very much!! :)

katrina, your catasetum saccatum has quite unusual form of lip sack opening. What I mean is that in the internet one usually sees saccatums with a kidney-shaped orifice of whitish color (similar to the A. Holst's description in the 'World of catasetums'). Yours, on the contrary, has rather rectangular orifice of dark color (or is it just an effect of foto?). Is it a different variety of the saccatum?

Good knowledge and sharp eye, Natalia. Although this species is quite variable, it is not a typical saccatum (nor osculatum nor incurvum). It might be a hybrid with saccatum.

Thank you, euplusia. I also think, that it's more like a hybrid with saccatum. It would be interesting to know the real name then.

I got it from Floralia a couple/few years ago and their IDs are typically spot on. I just chalked up the differences to the fact that this species (like many Ctsm) does tend to exhibit quite a bit of variety in it's appearance. ???

In the past often different Catasetum species were lumped together. Recent field studies lead to better knowledge and allowed to upgrade varieties into species rank and also to describe more species.
Catasetums with a saccate lip pouch were lumped together as Catasetum saccatum. Today we realize that incurvum (trautmanni), osculatum ( christyanum) and schmidtianum are well defined separate species.
Also promoted by human and agricultural activities there exists an increasing number of natural hybrids.

Good points...thanks for the info and the input (you too Saadia). I will change the tag to read the new status.