Catasetum osculatum
 

Interesting species with a pouch in the lip which is common in male Catasetum flowers. These flowers pollination mechanism is amazing! When the flowers open in the wild and start emitting their fragrance, the bees, many of them, appear and fly like crazy around them. They seem mesmerized by the flowers!

Frontal view:
Catasetum osculatum Lacerda & V.P.Castro on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Side view:
Catasetum osculatum Lacerda & V.P.Castro on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

This is one Ive wanted for a long time! Super cool! Great pics too Mauro!

Steve,

Bela Vista Orchids will be in Redlands next May, they have this one ( Catasetum osculatum - Plants: Bela Vista Orchids ). As they are within the U.S., I imagine it is easier to send you, from Florida.

I'm mesmerized too. That flower is strange and gorgeous...and that color!!!:faint:

I'm not a bee, I think, but I'd be all over that wierd and wonderful thing too! I LOVE it.

Kim

Unfortunately, since I live on an island in the middle of the Pacific (Hawaii), the mainland US is a foreign country to me with the same permiting requirements!! The only plants I can buy are ones that are already in Hawaii because the permits are just too expensive so Im kind of limited in what I can buy. Thanks for the information though!

:lol:

Odd and lovely, Maura - the catasetums are so unlike the other flowers - they are bizarre and aggressive males, and kind of dowdy females. So very unlike the humans.
A beautiful photo - Nancy