Catasetum barbatum (Sampled Red List Index Flora of Peru)

Catasetum barbatum

Location ²

Range Countries: Trinidad, French Guiana, Guyana, Suriname, Venezuela, Trinidad and Tobago, Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of, Peru.

This species is known from ca 30 localities. The taxon is reported to be not common in Suriname but locally common in Amazonas and Central Brazil (da Rocha and da Silva 2001, Gomes et al. 2006)

Description ³

Catasetum barbatum is a small to medium sized, variable, pseudobulb epiphytic and sometimes terrestrial orchid.

Sixteen variations in lip morphology of C. barbatum were recognized in four habitats in central Brazil and Amazonia. Variations relate to the ecological characteristics of the environment. This orchid is unique in having male, female and hermaphroditic flowers. The fragrant flowers are pollinated by male euglossine bees. In Catasetum, the differential fragrance production is the primary barrier to hybridization among otherwise infertile species (Hill et al. 1972). Seeds are dispersed by wind (Costa et al. 2004). Orchids of the subtribe cateisetnae have a unique mechanism enabling forcible flinging of the pollinarium at an insect pollinator (Dodson 1962). The species name (barbatus: bearded) refers to the lip and its many fleshy hairs.

They bloom in the spring, summer and fall on a suberect to pendant, 1 1/2' (45 cm) long, many (20) flowered, racemose inflorescence arising on a mature pseudobulb and have fleshy, fragrant flowers and are a hot to warm growing species requiring very bright light. They have oblong-fusiform pseudobulbs enveloped basally by several leaf-bearing sheaths carrying membranous, oblanceolate or lanceolate, distichous, deciduous leaves that sheath the pseudobulb and are 14-16 inches in length, the inflorescence is basal, erect, and single sexed, with male or female flowers.

Habitat Type ³

This species is a hot to warm growing orchid, which is found in a wide variety of open, lowlands habitats, mostly riparian, from 0 to 300 m asl. This orchid mostly grows as an epiphyte but it is also found growing terrestrially although it seems to flower more luxuriantly as an epiphyte, especially when in contact with rotting wood (Holst 1999). The taxon has been collected in gallery forest in cerrado, in savanna, in lowland wet evergreen forest, lowland dry semi-deciduous forest, often in marshes and along watercourses within 10 ecoregions (GIS data).

References ³

Romand-Monnier, F. 2013. Catasetum barbatum. In: IUCN 2013. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2013.2. . Downloaded on 25 February 2014.

Costa, I.R., Araújo, F.S. and Lima-Verde, L.W. 2004. Flora e aspectos auto-ecológicos de um encrave de cerrado na chapada do Araripe, Nordeste do Brasil. Acta Botanica Brasilica 18(4): 759-770.

Hills, H.G., Williams, N.H. and Dodson, C.H. 1972. Floral fragrances and isolating mechanisms in the genus Catasetum (Orchidaceae). Biotropica 4(2): 61-76.

Dodson, C.H. 1962. Pollination and Variation in the Subtribe Catasetinae (Orchidaceae). Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden 49(1/2): 35-56.

da Rocha, A.E. and da Silva, J.B.F. 2001. Variacoes morfologicas do labelo de Catasetum barbatum(Lindl.) Lindl. Acta Amazonica 31(3): 365-373.

Gomes, A.P.S., Nogueira Rodal, M.J. and de Melo, A.L. 2006. Florística e fitogeografia da vegetação arbustiva subcaducifólia da Chapada de São José, Buíque, PE, Brasil. Acta Botanica Brasilica 20(1): 37-48.

Holst, A.W. 1999. The world of Catasetums. Timber Press, Portland, OR.

http://www.orchidspecies.com/catasetumbarbatum.htm

Sources and Credits

Adapted by consci2014 from a work by (c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catasetum_barbatum
(c) consci2014, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA)

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Family	Orchidaceae
Color	green, red, white, yellow

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