Mormodes rolfeana
 

At least that's what we think it is... A plant I got from Alfredo Manrique last year. It was sold as Morm. andicola, but I knew when the buds got to be bigger than 4 cm this could not be the case. I was worried for a while it could be a mislabeled cycnoches! I say that because the flowers are huge for this genus. More than 9 cm across on the first flower with 2 cm petals. Mr. Manrique sent the pictures off to a taxonomist to get the right ID. Preliminary results are that its most likely rolfeana, but we'll see. I'm enthralled by it's asymmetrical beauty!

When the buds were opening they smelled like fresh cut jalapeños. Now they fill the room with an overwhelmingly sweet berry scent, with a hint of clove. Enjoy :biggrin:

http://i1344.photobucket.com/albums/...pscdf3gjyr.jpg

http://i1344.photobucket.com/albums/...ps5qmjlg69.jpg

http://i1344.photobucket.com/albums/...psdqp6fsnb.jpg

A very interesting and unusual flower just on looks, but your description of its fragrance makes me need one badly! Should you ever have a backbulb for trade....... ;)

Jalapeño berry! What better on toast?

Wonderful. The gold outline on the sepals makes a nice accent to the general striping. Mormodes scents can be truly wild.
Jamie

Pleasant surprise ! Great looking blooms and interesting that you were able to stake the spike.


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Very cool! Gotta love the big flowers!!

Thanks guys. So, the Clowesia pollen didn't take. Should've kept more of it. I lost the pollen off this plant (yea, both sets, don't know how), so time to try to make some Catamodes babies.

I tried to harvest the first flower's pollen, but it fell on the floor :( Can't find it for the life of me. When the pollen "ejected", it came out like clockwork, that is when a mechanism was triggered it flipped the pollen out with an adhesive side up, still sitting on top of the column. It was not as sticky as catasetum adhesive (thus the drop). Nor did it come out as violently. Within minutes the column unfurled a bit and the stigmatic surface had become more sticky. I was surprised to see how quickly it had turned. Within hours the scent had gotten noticeably stronger.

With the second flower, I lost the anther cap and pollen at the same time I guess, perhaps when taking pictures. Miraculously I found the anther cap on the ground. No pollen to be seen though. Must've not have been meant to be.

There's always next year!

So wonderfully strange blooms. There is just something about an orchids spitting on you that intrigues one.