Catasetum macrocarpum (possibly xtapiriceps)
 

Just opened ....

Dear Lars,

veery nice colors in your Catasetum. However, this is not a pure macrocarpum, as it is missing the trident (on the front of the labellum, which looks like a spatula in your plant) See the picture in this link: http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2607/...748109a556.jpg
Catasetum macrocarpum by kavanaru, on Flickr

your plant is Catasetum xtapiriceps which is the natural hybrid between pileatum and macrocarpum. this hybrid is very variable due to crosses and back crosses in the wild, having plants resembling macrocarpum very closely (like yours), plants resembling pileatum very close, and anything in between. Handmade Tapiriceps is normally a primary between both species and is really something intermediate between both parents, therefore I assume your plant is originally wild collected, and/or selfed considered as a macrocarpum (error not uncommon, especially here in Europe).

here is a picture of Ctsm. xtapiriceps tending more to the pileatum side http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2669/...556d3348d9.jpg
Catasetum × tapiriceps by GenaJog, on Flickr

I got it originally from Orchideas de Valle, which means it is quite likely that seed from th eparent plant has been collected in the wild.

Thanks for educating me!

Totally agree with Ramon comment.

A second flowering of this plant this year!

Very nice!

wow...dear kavanaru, you had been always very sharp and precise on catasetum ID and description. i would like to learn more and really got no ideas about the flower anatomy. where is the trident for the macrocarpum that is missing and secondly is there a link that you can suggest where i can read more on basic catasetum flower anatomy? thanks

Ian, in the 3 pictures below, you can easily see trident I have mentioned before. it is the spike in the upper border of the labellum, which makes kind of a trident fork with the two pseudo-teeth on the sides. This is typical of macrocarpum and it is diagnostic for the spacies. Furthermore, the central tooth must be very pointy, as some xtapiriceps might show a tridet, but normally the central tooth is not very pointy or it is very obtuse (sorry, could not find a picture of one)
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2607/...748109a556.jpg http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3465/...4604d2cc77.jpg http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1117/...175e7e28e4.jpg http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2055/...063ec4b637.jpg

regarding a link to learn about the Catasetum anatomy... must think more about it, as I do not recall any right now. You can join Catasetiane fans blogs (I only know one in Portuguese where you can learn a lot, it is from Brazil and you have many of the Catasetinae expert discussing there)
You can also follow George Carr's blog. This is not updated very often, but it has very good information.
You can also watch the photos, and probably start discussions in my Flickr Group: Flickr: Catasetinae or on Robson's group: Flickr: Catasetum

There is also a very good book (could be better, but it is the only one I know): The World of Catasetum by Arthur Holst <- out of print, but you can find used ones in Amazon or ebay.

In my case... it is more than 25 years dealing with Catasetum :) I started growing orchids after I saw Catasetum pileatum var. imperiale the first time... many other Catasetinae grew wild around the house of my parents in Venezuela.

tqvm kavanaru on all the info (very informative). i am a member on catasetinae, my first post was a sanguineum x jumbo pearl and you commented on it as well (thats where is first came across you...:) )
seen your flickr photo on catasetums as well, it was breath taking and gave me the inspiration to increase my knowledge about catasetums.
thanks for the book that you recommended as well
and again, thanks for everything, very much appreciated

best regards
ian