Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Name correction to AOS awards made as Ctsm callosum var. album




I believe that award 20041849, granted a CHM under the name Catasetum callosum var. album ‘MAJ’, is not Catasetum callosum but actually Catasetum rectangulare a new species which I described and published in 2005 when I was asked to verify provisional award 20051591 that had been granted in Miami as an album form of Catasetum poriferum Lindley. The description of the proposed new species and a brief account of my investigations were published in the Orchid Review vol. 114, no. 1267: 32-33, January-February 2006. In addition to comparing the flower to C. poriferum, Catasetum callosum Lindley was examined as a possibility. When I inquired about the flower with some Colombian friends, they said that in Colombia it was known as C. callosum var. album. A picture of a colored form of this species was published in Native Colombian Orchids Vol. 1: 59D – plant no. 48, 1994. In the same series Vol. 5, page 674D, plant no. 750 is the album form of the species as pictured in awards 20041849 and 20051591. A picture of the colored form is also found in The Orchid Picture Book 1995, page 8 identified as Catasetum callosum ‘Pecoso’.
Since the Colombians call these plants Catasetum callosum, horticulturally, we need to examine this species’ original description, drawings and published information.
Catasetum callosum was described by Lindley in 1840 in Edwards's Botanical Register 26(Misc.): 77
183. CATASETUM callosum ; petalis concoloribus lineari-lanceolatis sepalodorsali conformi suppositis, labello ovato-oblongo obtuso basin versussaccato supra saccum calo magno (aurantiaco) instructo margine obso-lete crenato, columnae acuminatae cirrhis vix ultra callum extensis.In habit this plant is exactly like Catasetum tridentatum,var. floribundum, but its flowers are quite different. Thesepals and petals are of a dull reddish brown, without spotsthe column is of the same colour, which may perhaps be bestcompared to that of old spoiled port wine. The lip is green,flat with a yellow tubercle near the base above the hollow,and a stain of the same colour near the apex. It was im-ported by Messrs. Loddiges from La Guayra, (no. 558).
In 1841, the following year, the description was republished with a drawing of the lip in Edwards’s Botanical Register vol. 27, t5
LOWER DRAWING ABOVE AT BEGINNING OF POST
1. Ctsm. callosum -The tumour-lipped Catasetum
2. C. cornutum -Horned Catasetum
3. C. barbatum var. proboscidium -Long-beaked Catasetum
4. C. laminatum var. eburneum -White-lipped Knife-blade Catasetum
5. C. lanciferum -Lance-bearing Catasetum
The tubercle for which the species is named is prominent and the obovate-triangular lip is notable in fig. 1.
Two more drawings are at the top above of the plant and partial inflorescences of Ctsm callosum which were published in Curtis’s Botanical Magazine, t4219 and t6648 from volume 108, September 1, 1882.
The text of t6648 follows:
CATASETUM Callosum. Native of Venezuela.
Nat. Ord. Orchideæ.—Tribe Vandeæ. Genus CATASETUM, Swartz; (Benth. et Hook.f. Gen, PI. vol. iii. p. 551, ined.)
Catasetum callosum; pseudobulbis oblongis vaginatis, foliis obovato-oblanceolatis acutis plicatis, racemis multifloris, scapo rachi ovariisque rufo-brunneis, perianthii foliolis elongato-lanceolatis concavis acuminatis brunneis, sepalo dorsali petalisque erectis parallelis contiguis, sepalis lateralibus deflexis parallelis v. paullo divaricatis, labello hastato-ovato-v.-lanceolato luride virescente purpureo maculate obtuso convexo basi dorso saccato, apicem versus subtrilobo, lobo intermedio producto recurvo, marginibus crenulatis, callo basi virescente v. flavido, colnmna aurantiaca in rostrum elongatum gracile erectum producta.
C. callosum, Lindl. in Bot. Reg. 1840; Misc. n. 183 and 1841, t. 5,f. 1; Rchb.f. in Walp. Ann. vol. v. p. 568.
A form of the Catasetum callosum has been figured in this work (Plate 4219) under the name of var. grandiflorum; it, however, differs from the original plant described by Lindley, and now pourtrayed here, more in colour and narrowness of leaf than in the size of the flower; for whereas in this the sepals and petals are of a rich brown, and the lip a uniform dull green speckled with red, in the var. grandiflorum the sepals and petals are pale dirty-yellow green, with red-brown tips, and the lip is of a bright verdigris green with purple edges and spots, a bright-red tip and red callus. There can, however, be no doubt as to the specific identity of these two plants. It would be more interesting to know whether this species presents the different sexual forms that some other species of the genus do, and upon which the genera Monachanthus and Myanthus were founded by Lindley, the former representing a female form, having a short column without the cirrhi, a perfect stigma, and imperfect pollinia, and the latter a hermaphrodite form, with a ciliate lip and perfect stigma and pollen. In the plant here figured I found the anther and stigma well developed, but the cirrhi were not sensitive, and the pollen masses were very small and apparently imperfect, whence I assume that this was a hermaphrodite form, with a functionally imperfect fertilizing apparatus.
C. callosum is a native of La-Guayra and Venezuela, from which latter country the specimen here figured was procured. It was presented to the Royal Gardens by Mr. Sander, of St. Albans, and flowered in the Orchid-house in December of last year. Other varieties are described as C. Lansburgii Lindl. (Lindl. and Paxt. Fl. Gard.vol. i.p. 156), and var. crenatum, Regel (Gartenfl. vol. v. p. 275).
Descr. Pseudobulbs two to three inches long, clothed with sheathes. Leaves six to ten inches long by two to three broad, narrowly obovate or oblanceolate, plaited and strongly nerved. Scape radical, short; raceme pendulous, many-flowered; rachis very stout, red-brown; bracts half an inch, oblong-lanceolate, membranous. Ovary one to one and a half inches, slender, curved, red-brown. Perianth three and a half inches long, segments all narrowly lanceolate, acuminate, concave, bright-brown. Dorsal sepal and two petals quite erect, parallel and contiguous; two lateral sepals deflexed, parallel or slightly diverging. Lip one inch long, cordate- or hastate-lanceolate, convex, dirty green, speckled with red, with a short gibbous sac at the base behind, margins slightly toothed; tip three-lobed, mid-lobe elongate and recurved; callus yellow or green. Column dirty yellow, as long as the lip, ending in a long, slender, erect beak.—J. D. II.
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The early drawings illustrate the variability in the lip of the species, but they also illustrate the common features that identify them all as Catasetum callosum Lindley – the large tubercle and the obovate-triangular lip in contrast to the rectangular lip of Ctsm. rectangulare which is found only in Colombia. No album form of true Ctsm. callosum has been published to my knowledge.
A final point emphasizes the identification of this award as correctly Ctsm rectangulare and not Ctsm callosum and is on page 80 of Venezuelan Orchids Illustrated, vol 2, Catasetum callosum “Fairly common in many parts of the Coastal Range of Venezuela, this orchid is notable for the great variety of forms of its lip. So variable is this element, in fact, that it is rare to find two plants whose flowers have lips similar in all details. The unusual nature of this dissimilarity gains emphasis when it is remembered that the shape of the lip is in most orchids a very constant factor and therefore a major guide to the identification of the species.” Reviewing the pictures of Ctsm rectangulare in both color forms, the lip is consistently rectangular in shape as cited in the original description and not variable among different clones.
Plants of what is now Catasetum rectangulare have been in US cultivation since at least 1999. I had two plants of this species at that time. They were sold under the name Catasetum callosum var. album and I have a number of slides of my plants from 1999. They came from Colombia. I was suspicious at the time that they were not C. callosum and I pickled several flowers and inflorescences which I still have in my personal herbarium. Because several years had passed when I received award 20051591 to identify, I did not remember the earlier plants.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Catasetum callosum Lindley
DUNSTERVILLE, G.C.K. & GARAY, L.A. Venezuelan Orchids Illustrated Vol. 2: 56, 57 drawings, 80 color plate, Catasetum callosum Lindl. 1962
The drawings found on page 57 are reproduced in Orchids of Venezuela An Illustrated Field Guide first edition page 80 and second edition page 75
ESCOBAR, R. editor Native Colombian Orchids vol. 5: 674, photographs B & C plants no. 748 & 749. 1994
LASSER, T. editor Flora de Venezuela - FOLDATS, E. ORCHIDACEAE Vol. XV, 4th part: 63-65 Catasetum callosum Lindl. 1970
BERRY, P.E., K. YATSKIEVYCH & B.K. HOLST. Flora of the Venezuelan Guayana Vol 7 – ROMERO-GONZALEZ, G.A. ORCHIDACEAE PART 20 CATASETUM: 263, 268 Catasetum callosum Lindl.
AOS AWARDS CORRECTLY IDENTIFIED IN THE AUTHOR’S OPINION AS Ctsm callosum:
19901074 Ctsm callosum ‘Katiusca’ CHM/AOS
19941175 Ctsm callosum ‘Debbie’s First’ CHM/AOS
19951710 Ctsm callosum ‘Milton Soloff’ CHM/AOS
20031851 Ctsm callosum ‘Stephen’s Pride’ HCC/AOS
20041255 Ctsm callosum ‘Sunset Valley Orchids; AM/AOS
Catasetum rectangulare G.F. Carr
Carr, G.F. The Orchid Review, vol. 114, no. 1267, January-February 2006: 33,34. Catasetum rectangulare A new species from Colombia.
Published as Catasetum callosum
ESCOBAR, R. editor Native Colombian Orchids Vol. 1: 59D – plant no. 48, 1994. In the same series Vol. 5, page 674D, plant no. 750
McDOWELL, D. The Orchid Picture Book: Catasetum callosum ‘Pecoso’ 1995: 8. - actually the colored form of C. rectangulare
SECOND AWARD
Award 20000120 granted a JC under the name of Catasetum callosum var. album is all female flowers. Because of the similarity of the female flowers among the species of Catasetum the establishment of the correct species is made only from the male flowers. As established, in my opinion, in my challenge to award 20041849, there is no true album form of Ctsm. callosum Lindley known and the plants that have been sold under this name are in fact Ctsm. rectangulare G.F.Carr. I would like to know if the male flowers of this clone were examined for verification of the species. If the male flowers were Ctsm rectangulare, then this award should be changed to Ctsm rectangulare. If the male flowers are some other species, I don’t know why it would have been called Ctsm. callosum var. album since according to Dunsterville & Garay, the female flowers of the species are green as are those of most Catasetum. If no verification of the male flowers is available, I think the name should be changed to Ctsm. rectangulare.
Bibliography
DUNSTERVILLE, G.C.K. & GARAY, L.A. Venezuelan Orchids Illustrated Vol. 2: 56, 57 drawings, 80 color plate, Catasetum callosum Lindl. 1962
Carr, G.F. The Orchid Review, vol. 114, no. 1267, January-February 2006: 33,34. Catasetum rectangulare A new species from Colombia.

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