A Catasetum orchid that grows male, female & hermaphrodite flowers on the same spike/inflorescence!! скачать в хорошем качестве

A Catasetum orchid that grows male, female & hermaphrodite flowers on the same spike/inflorescence!!

Catasetum orchids will grow either male or female flowers, which is an oddity in the orchid world since practically all genera produce "perfect" flowers which are male and female at the same time. It is believed that Catasetum female flowers are favored by higher light and/or mature plants as the energy required to make a female flower is much higher and therefore requires a sturdier plant. While any Catasetum can make either flower at any point in time, they are usually born on separate inflorescences with just one type (male or female) per inflorescence. Occasionally and nobody seems to know why it will grow both male and female flowers on the same spike. In this case it grew a third type (!) on the same spike!!! The male flower has a flat lip (there are 2 flowers), the single female flower is the standard female look (green helmet) and there are 2 extra flowers which have the color and the shape of a male flower, except for the lip which is not flat at all and resembles a female flower. While growing, those 2 buds looked like they would turn into females as they had the typical bulge on the bud but they ended up being "in between". Unfortunately, this plant was a present given to me by a friend with NO ID.... Catasetum male flowers are the showy ones and they allow for identification of a specie. Female flowers are not pretty but look similar (green helmet) across all species which makes it very hard to tell species apart based on female flowers alone; female are a lot less common than male flowers. There are also very few female flowers produced at once but they last MUCH longer (male flowers 1 to 2 weeks on average, female flowers 3 to 6 weeks on average).