Caularthron bilamellatum (Rchb. f.) R.E. Schult. 1958
Photo by © Ana Patricia from Nicaragua
Plant in situ Bocas Del Toros Panama 10/11
Photos by © Jay Pfahl
Drawing by © Dunsterville & Garay
to
to EARLY 
Common Name The Two-Ledged Caularthrom
Flower Size up to 1 1/2" [up to 3.75 cm]
Found in Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Trinidad & Tobago, Venezuela, Choco' and Nariño departments of Colombia, Ecuador and Peru as a small sized, hot to warm growing epiphyte found in dry tropical forests and seasonally inundated swamps at elevations of sealevel to 700 meters with long-cylindrical, fusiform or elongate-ovoid pseudobulbs enveloped by white, papery bracts carrying, 3 to 4, towards the apex, oblong or elliptic-oblong, fleshy, coriaceous, obtuse leaves that blooms in the winter and early spring on an apical, to 3' [90 cm] long, erect, occasionally branched, racemose inflorescence with triangular-cucullate, acute, margins more or less revolute, shorter than the ovary floral bracts arising on a mature pseudobulb with several to many, scented flowers that often do not open well.
Similar to C bicornutum but with smaller flowers and the lip has a wider lip with much less obvious lobes.
This plant is cleistogamous [self-pollinating] and often has the flowers not opening as they are already fertilized. This species can bloom out of the apex of a newly emerging pseudobulb that will not develop further if the plant is under stress and is often found in conjunction with ants and may benefit from their presence.
Synonyms Caularthron bilamellatum f. indivisum (Bradford ex Griseb.) Carnevali & I.Ramírez 2003 Caularthron bivalvatulum [Schlechter] Jones 1974; Caularthron indivisum (Bradford ex Griseb.) Garay & Dunst. 1979; Diacrium bicornutum var. indivisum (Bradford ex Griseb.) Cogn. 1898; Diacrium bigibberosum (Rchb. f.) Hemsl. 1883; Diacrium bilamellatum (Rchb. f.) Hemsl. 1883; Diacrium bilamellatum var reichenbachianum Schlechter 1922; Diacrium bivalvatulum Schltr. 1923; Diacrium indivisum Broadway 1895; Diacrium ulmeckei Kraenzlin 1927; Diacrium venezuelanum Schltr. 1919; Epidendrum bigibberosum Rchb. f. 1862; *Epidendrum bilamellatum Rchb. f. 1862
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ;
Lankester's Epidendra Website CR ;
Ann. Bot. Syst. 6: 345. 1862 as Epidendrum bilamellatum;
Ann. Bot. Syst. 6: 346 Rchb.f 1862 as Epidendrum bigibberosum;
Xenia Orchidaceae Vol 3 Reichenbach 1883 as Epidendrum bilamellatum drawing;
Biol. Cent.-Amer., Bot. 3(16): 222. Hemsl. 1884 as Diacrium bigibberosum;
Die Orchideen Schlechter 1915 as Diacrium bigibberosum;
Die Orchideen der Sudamerikanischen Kordillerenstaaten I Venezuela 6:41 Schlechter 1919 as Diacrium venezuelanum;
Orchidaenfloren Kordillerenstaaten 1: Venezuela 6:41 Schlechter 1920;
Repert. Sp. Nov. Regni. Veg. Beih. 17: 47. Panama Schlechter 1922 as Diacrium bilamellatum; Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. Beih. 17: 47 Schlechter 1922 as C bilammelatum var reichenbachianum;
Repert. Sp. Nov. Regni. Veg. Beih. 19: 132. Costa Rica Schlechter 1923 as Diacrium bivalvatulum;
The Orchids of Panama L.O. Williams & P Allen 1946 as Diacrium bilamellatum drawing fide;
AOS Bulletin Vol 27 No 6 1958 as Diacrium bilamellatum;
* Bot. Mus. Leafl. 18: 92 R E Schult. 1958;
Venezuelan Orchids Illustrated Vol 1 Dunsterville & Garay 1959 drawing fide;
Native Orchids of Trinidad Schultes 1960;
Encyclopedia of Cultivated Orchids Hawkes 1965 photo fide;
AOS Bulletin Vol 38 No 6 1969;
Flora de Venezuela Foldats Volumen XV Part 3 1970;
Flora de Venezuela Volumen 15 Parte 3 Foldats 1970 drawing fide;
Adansonia, n.s., 14: 300 H G Jones 1974 as C bivalvatulum;
Las Orquedias De El Salvador Hamer 1974 drawing/photo fide;
Die Orchideen 3 Auflage Bd 1 Sonderabdruck aus Schlechter Lieferung 10 576 - 632 Brieger, Maatsch and Senghas 1977 photo ok; Orquideologia Vol 12 3/4 1977/8 photo plant only;
Orchids of Venezuela, An Illustrated Field Guide Vol 1 Dunsterville & Garay 1979 drawing fide;
Icones Planetarum Tropicarum Plate 020 Dodson 1980 drawing fide;
Icones Planetarum Tropicarum Plate 634 Hamer 1982 drawing fide;
Manual of Cultivated Orchids Bechtel, Cribb & Laurent 1982;
Selbyana Vol 10 Orchids of Central America Hamer 1988 drawing fide;
Orchids of the Eastern Caribbean Kenny 1988;
Orchids from The Coast Of Ecuador Arosemana, Jurado, Estrada and Konanz 1988 photo hmm;
Native Colombian Orchid Vol 1 COS 1990 photo fide;
Orchids Travel By Air A Pictoral Safari Mulder, Mulder-Roelfsema and Schuiteman 1990 photo fide;
An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Orchids Pridgeon 1992;
Native Ecuadorian Orchids Vol 1 Dodson 1993 photo fide;
Manual of Orchids Stewart 1995;
Cattleyas and Their Relatives Vol V Withner 1998;
Orchids of Venezuela [An illustrated field guide] Vol. 1 Ramiro and Carnevali 2000 drawing fide;
Orquideas Nativas del Tachira' Cesar Fernandez 2003 photo fide;
Manual De Plantas de Costa Rica Volumen 3 Hammel, Grayum, Herrera and Zamora 2003 drawing fide;
Flora of the Venezuelan Guayana Vol 7 Steyermark, Berry, Yatskievych and Holst 2003;
AOS Bulletin Vol 73 No 8 2004;
The Cattleya and Their Relatives Vol 7 The Debateable Epidendrum Withner & Harding 2004;
Genera Orcidacearum Vol 4 Part 1 Pridgeon, Cribb, Chase and Rasmusen 2005;
Flora Of Ecuador # 76 225[2] Dodson & Luer 2005 drawing fide;
Vanishing Beauty, Native Costa Rican Orchids Vol 1 Pupulin 2005 photo fide;
Orquideas de la Serrania del Baudo Misas Urreta 2006 as Caularthron bicornutum drawing/photo fide;
Orchid Digest Vol 73 #3 2009;
Orchids, A Colombian Treasure Vol 1 Ortiz & Uribe 2014 drawing fide/photo hmm;
Orchid Genera and Species in Guatemala Archila, Szlachchetko, Chiron, Lipinska, Mystkowska and Bertolini 2018 photo fide;
Materials to the Orchid Flora of Colombia Vol IV:369 Szlatchetko & Kolanowska 2023 drawing fide
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