Help me ID this one please

[mdomingz]

So... here i go again. In my quest of prolonging the life of orchids attached to trees that are not so lucky, i rescued three cuts of this one. (yes, the same old tree which got his huge branches cut about a year ago, and of which i rescued a chunk of brassavola nodosa and catasetum bicolor). The tree finally got torn down by a storm. And this one was the last missing of the trio. They grow together wildly on most parts of the city, (together with like 2 species of not so cute bromeliads). The tree is about a block from my house, so basically the plant's stress reduces to being cut and set in a new base. Since I don't take plants from nature, i had to wait (a lot!) to get my hands on this one. I swear i don't have anything to do with the falling of the tree!!

The important features are: The pseudobulbs are like the typical schomburgkia, with the split bottom, the ants and the hollow inside. That's what i thought it was, since they are common in Panama. The spike comes from the top and the flowers open one at a time. Here comes the thing. When the flowers opened they were completely unexpected. Instead of the curly schom, there was this rather small flower. All white with very subtle hints of pink on the tips on three of the sepals and what seems to be a double lip with a hint of yellow on it. The flower is about an inch across and has a very sweet, powdery scent. Think of what a marshmallow would smell like.

I hope someone would give me an idea of what it may be... If i get a starting point, i'm sure i can do the rest of my homework. Internet resources for specific panama species are rather thin, and i've been through them countless times.

thanks
manuel
panama

[kmarch]

Hmmmm, interesting....I suspect a Diacrinum or somethign like that. Let me see what I can find. Can you give me some measurements? Height and width of the flower, length of the inflorescence, height of pseudobulb.

Thanks...and stay tuned.

[brookn]

I don't know what it is, but the flower is just gorgeous!

[mdomingz]

the flower is about an inch wide. It is kind of like waxy but each flower lasts about just 5 days or so.

thanks kevin
manuel
panama

ps. thanks for the compliment brookn!

[Rishad Kalarikkal]

It is so beautiful..I just love to see those flowering on leafless canes..

[mdomingz]

these pseudobulbs are about 6 inches tall. The rest of this same plant had pseudobulbs that seemed to go to about around ten inches tall and a massive plant of a lot more than 20 of them all together. This spike was about 15 inches at the time of the picture and had about ten flowers. I guess because of this plants nature, (ants and stuff), it is far more common to see it loaded with seedpods than flowers.

More info, i've seen it wildly attached to the trunk of palm trees and on some other tree branches growing rather from the underside curving up. It's like you would see, the brassavola and catasetum on top of the branch, and this one rather to the side or under the same branch.

hope this helps
thanks again

manuel
panama

[snowballsarebad]

Oh it's so pretty! And it smells like marshmallows, how awesome is that?! I can't wait to see if Kevin or somebody else can figure out what it is. Then maybe I can add it to my wishlist.

[Tarad]

Flower looks cute Plant looks a little alienish Tara

[kmarch]

I'm pretty sure you have a Caularthron species of some sort, possibly Caularthron bilamellatum. This Cattleya Alliance genus is endemic to Central and South America, has the general characteristics your plant possesses, and in more than one of the sources I checked is described as having often hollow pseudobulbs inhabited by ants. The genus contains only 4 species: amazonicum, bicornutum, bilamellatum, and kraenzlinianum.

I found a helpful page on the AOS site on Caularthron bicornutum: AOS | Caularthron bicornutum
I notice bicornutum is apparently found in South America and is supposed to have a tri-lobed lip. It looks like your flower has a single-lobed lip (can you tell me if it is single or tri-lobed?) and we know it came from Central America so it probably isn't bicornutum. It may be bilamellatum which is found in Central America. I did find a picture of a bilamellatum flower and it looks a great deal like your flower: http://www.ecuagenera.com/WebRoot/wh...mellatum_m.jpg but as you know looking up pics on the web is a terrible way to ID an orchid. I have not been able to find a good botanical description of bilamellatum.

Here is a page with some info on Caularthon bilamellatum: Caularthron bilamellatum - Orchids Wiki

Here are a few more pics though I can not vouch for their being accurately identified:
http://i251.photobucket.com/albums/g...8/IMG_3063.jpg
http://www.rarimages.com/BelizeImage...llatum1292.jpg

They apparently do well with general Cattleya culture though every source I read said to give them a drier rest after flowering.

Of course the best, most reliable way of getting a proper ID is to take the plant (or sending plant parts) to an orchid taxonomist but at least thinking it might probably be Caularthon bilamellatum gives you a place to start and at least you know it is a Cattleya Alliance orchids so you have some idea how to take care of it.

Sources:
Illustrated Encyclopedia of Orchids
Botanica's Pocket Orchids
AOS

Oh.....and did I mention how BEAUTIFUL it is? It's clean, perfect, pure white is STUNNING!!!

[lmartiny]

This is a very interesting and learning thread. Intriguing. (sp?) You guys are really seeking this out and the outcome will be anticipated.
The flower is pretty, but the plant seems kind of ugly (?) Sorry. I think that is why I am only so so on dens.

[delphiguy]

wow that beautiful. thanks for sharing, your an orchid hero.

[mdomingz]

Thanks soooo much Kevin. Now i don't have to spend the next 15 years going through all the cattleya alliance. With this info and references i can now go ask some questions!

Thanks again, i'll post when i have a real positive id.

manuel
panama

[LouisW]

I can see how one might think of it as "tri-lobed." It has two lobes near the top, on either side of the column, and on protruding downward which is the fest of the lip.

Although I imagine somethingmore like a Epidendrum when I think tri-lobed.

Anyways, looks like a fairly close match to me, and i really like it.