Catasetum gladiatorium
 

I purchased this plant in the late eighties from a German nursery. It was mislabeled, I kept it as barbatum var. spinosum. Plants of this type were appearantly not new to Catasetum lovers.
In 1998 Kleber G. Lacerda, who has done so much for the field research in Catasetum, described this species as Ctsm. gladiatorium. The formation of the callus trident and two antennae is unique.
Catasetum gladiatorium is one of the smaller species. Coming from the Brazilian savannahs, it adapts easily to our climatic conditions. It survived more than 25 years and flowers easily, often producing several stems per season. Small size and easy flowering are also inherited to its progeny.

Another great one that I am not familiar with. Looks great!

WOW! That's awesome!

Fantastic.

Kim

Wow! That took my breath away! I want one now... :evil:

the gladiatorium, barbatum and lanciferum are all into the barbatum complexes. the one that resembles the gladiatorium the most is the lanciferum. both with the trident calus where the isoceras antennae touches it. the only minor difference is at the tip of the labellum.
here is a pic that i compiled, most of the labellum details are from other catasetinae expert in orchid forums i copied from. just for comparison and learning purposes. would be delighted to hear any further input regarding this barbatum complexes group

Very cool!

My other clone from Bela Vista is flowering right now. Flowers have a pinkish undertone.

Awesome!

My Ctsm. gladiatorium made a second spike.