Catasetum maculatum is found in Panama, Honduras, Costa Rica, and Nicaragua in Central America to Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela, and Brazil in northern South America. It grows in coastal lowlands, always near water.
Catasetum maculatum also called as The Spotted Catasetum, Catasetum brenesii, Catasetum oerstedii, Catasetum rostratum, is a species of the genus Catasetum. This species was described by Carl Sigismund Kunth in 1822.
IDENTIFY CATASETUM MACULATUM ORCHID PLANT
Catasetum maculatum is found in Panama, Honduras, Costa Rica, and Nicaragua in Central America to Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela, and Brazil in northern South America. It grows in coastal lowlands, always near water.
It is a large sized, hot to warm growing epiphyte with conical-fusiform, clustered, many noded, to 24 cm long and 2 cm wide pseudobulbs enveloped by several leaf-bearing sheaths carrying 3 to 5, oblanceolate, suberect to spreading, acute, to 35 cm long and 8 cm wide leaves.
The Spotted Catasetum blooms in the summer and fall with 4 to 12 fragrant, fleshy flowers on an arching to suberect, to 60 cm long inflorescence arising on a mature pseudobulb and has ovate, pale green bracts. The male flowers are more than 5 cm in diameter with coloration of dorsal sepal green, with tiny, dense umber spots on the front surface; petals of the same color with fewer spots; lateral sepals with the same spotting as the dorsal sepal; lip green to yellow-green with small spots outside, larger spots and bars inside. The female flowers are with the lip held uppermost, deeply pouch-shaped, shorter, wider, and rounder than in the male flower and the coloration is green outside, yellowish inside.
This species is similar to and confused with Catasetum integerrimum and Catasetum macrocarpum, although Catasetum maculatum seems to be the only one of the 3 to have fringed or hairy lip margins. Catasetum macrocarpum is distinguished by the smooth, revolute margins of its lip, which is more yellow and has a raised fleshy apicula, and Catasetum integerimum by its wider, conical lip and by being less heavily spotted with maroon. Another way of differentiating between Catasetum maculatum and Catasetum integerimum is that in the former the fringed or hairy margins of the lateral lobes of the lip meet at the base of the column and form a nearly rectangular orifice just above the pseudostigma, whereas in the latter the margins of the lip are smooth and overlap above the column to form a circular opening.
CATASETUM MACULATUM ORCHID PLANT CARE AND CULTURE
Cultural information should only be used as a guide, and should be to be adapted to suit you. Your physical location; where you grow your plants, how much time you have to devote to their care, and many other factors, will need to be taken into account. Only then can you decide on the cultural methods that best suit you and your plants.
Light:
Catasetum maculatum are sun-loving plant and needs a light level of 30000-60000 lux. Unless the strong air movement found in the natural habitat can be duplicated, however, the grower should provide some shade (40-60 % shade). This species can be grown under lights if sufficient light intensity can be provided, and the plant certainly can be summered outdoors if their moisture requirements can be met.
Temperature:
In their natural habitat, the climate is evenly hot, moist, and tropical. This climate is almost the same year-round, with high humidity at night, even in the dry season, which is relatively short. The nighttime temperatures rarely fall below 18°C, with daytime highs generally from 29 to 35°C. The important thing is to maintain evenly warm conditions, and for this orchid the closer the night minimum is to 21°C, the better the plants will respond.
Humidity:
The Spotted Catasetum tolerate an environment with 40 - 60 % relative humidity during their growing season, but for optimal development of new growth and flowering, 70 % is recommended.
Substrate, growing media and repotting:
Catasetum maculatum can be grown in a large pot or basket with fir bark, osmunda, tree fern fiber, charcoal, and sphagnum, in various proportions or combined with still other ingredients such as sponge rock, perlite, leaf mold, peat, and bark screenings as substrate.
It is recommended to repot every year and never wait more than two years. The optimal time for potting or repotting is when new growth on a plant emerging from dormancy is about 5 cm tall and the nubs have developed into new roots that are reaching for support.
Watering:
In its natural habitat it receives rainfall frequently even while dormant. Basket-grown, and unconventionally potted plant may be watered every sunny day during the growing season, provided conditions are such that they dry off relatively quickly. In the case of conventionally potted adult plants, it should not be necessary to water more than once or, at most, twice a week. This species like to dry out at least slightly between waterings.
Fertilizer:
Fertilize with an appropriate formulation at least every week during the growing season, or fertilize with a weak formula every time the plants are watered. It is important to begin regular applications of high-nitrogen fertilizer (such as 10-5-5) with a full range of trace elements. As the leaves begin to unfurl, and well before flowering, add a high-phosphorus formula to develop big, strong pseudobulbs capable of producing robust inflorescences. Any of the soluble products with a large second-digit number (for example, 3-12-6) constitute a good source of phosphorus.
Rest period:
Catasetum maculatum have a short dormant period. When the plants are leafless and no new growths are visible, the grower must respect their state of dormancy. Watering frequency should be reduced during dormancy. Fertilization should stop completely during this period. In the springtime, at the beginning of the growth cycle, water should not be made regularly available for the newly developing roots until the new growth is at least 5 cm tall.
C. aculatum is the only species of Catasetum here in Costa Rica and is fairly common through out most of the country. The typical spot to find them is on dead wood, either dead branches or often fence posts. I've seen them growing wild near the Northern Pacific coast where 5 months of no rain is normal during the dry season and also up in the mountains near Lake Arenal where the dry season is hardly even a thing. This is a species that can handle a wide range of climates. One thing it does not like and will cause it to wither away over the course of a few years is excessive shade.
ReplyDeleteAlso, at least here in CR, the typical male flower is far more green than most pictures you find online.