Catasetum tenebrosum Kraenzel 1910 SUBGENUS Catasetum SECTION Isoceras SUBSECTION Convergentes
Female flower immediately after opening
Female flower after time Photos by © Jay Pfahl
C tenebrosa f alba Photo by © B Collantes
C tenebrosa f smaragdinum Drawing by © Alacantara
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Common Name The Dark-Brown Catasetum
Flower Size 1 1/4" [3 cm]
A medium sized, warm to cool growing epiphytic or lithophytic species from Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru found at elevations of 500 to 1800 meters in riverine forests on hilly terrain in full sun or on rocks and boulders below them with spindle-shaped, several noded pseudobulbs enveloped basally by several, distichous, foliaceous sheaths carrying 6 to 8, thin, plicate, lanceolate leaves that blooms from the spring till fall from the basal nodes, on a suberect, 8" [20 cm] long, several to many [4 to 12] flowered, racemose inflorescence that arises from a newly forming pseudobulb carrying 3 to 8 female flowers or 11 to 17 male flowers with either being citrus scented.
This species needs to be in light to moderate shade to insure male flowers and kept drier but does not require a prolonged rest.
Synonyms Catasetum tenebrosum f. smaragdinum D.E.Benn., Christenson & Collantes 1999
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Flora Brasilica Vol XII VI Hoehne 1942 drawing fide; Orchids of Peru Vol 3 Schweinfurth 1960; Icones Planetarum Tropicarum Plate 409 Dodson 1982 drawing fide; An Illustrated Encycolpedia of Orchids Pridgeon 1982; AOS Bulletin Vol 68 No 5 1999 photo as C tenebrosa f smaragdinum; Rudolf Schlechter Die Orchideen Band 1B lieferung 26 1584 - 1648 Brieger 1992 photo good; Native Ecuadorian Orchids Vol 1 Dodson/Escobar 1993 drawing/photo fide; Native Ecuadorian Orchids vol 1 Dodson 1994; AOS Bulletin Vol 68 No 5 1999 as C tenebrosum f alba photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 68 No 5 1999 as C tenebrosum f smaragdinum drawing fide; The World Of Catasetum Holtz 1999 photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 71 No 2 2002 drawing fide; Botanica's Orchids Laurel Glen 2002; Flora's Orchids Nash & La Croix 2005; Flora Of Ecuador # 76 225[2] Dodson & Luer 2005; AOS Bulletin Vol 75 No 3 2006 drawing fide; Orchid Species of Peru Zelenko Bermudez 2009 as C tenebrosum var smaragdinum photo fide; Orchid Species of Peru Zelenko Bermudez 2009 photo fide; Orquideas del Peru Freuler 2010 photo fide; Las Orquideas del Peru Izerskyy & Bezverhov 2011 photo fide; Orchid Digest Vol 78 #4 2014 photo fide; Orquideas de Zamora Chinchipe Tomo 1 Epidendroideae Jimenez & Jimenez 2014 photo fide; Orchids of Tropical America an introduction and guide Meisel 2014 photo fide; Orchid Digest Vol 80 #2 2016; Orchid Digest Vol 80 #4 2016 photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 85 #6 2016 photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 88 #7 2019 photo fide;
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