New candidate for this month is Catasetum ivaneae.

Catasetum ivaneae Benelli (2016) is accepted species by POWO Kew. The native range of this species is Brazil (Amazonas, Rondônia). It is a pseudobulbous epiphyte and grows primarily in the wet tropical biome.

Previous Awards:

There are 2 AOS awards for Catasetum ivaneae, AM 87 pts and CHM 86 pts (both awards granted in 2024).

Description:

Candidate plant has 33 flowers and no bud on two up to 18-cm inflorescences (18 flowers and 15 flowers) arising from the third bulb. Bulb is 14.5-cm tall x 2.7-cm in diameter. Plant grown in 7.5-cm plastic pot in sphagnum moss. Flowers are fragrant.

Flower Measurements:

NS H - 3.8 cm;                   NS V -4.1 cm;

Dorsal Sep. W - 1.1 cm;    Dorsal Sep. L - 3.0 cm;

Petal W - 1.2 cm;               Petals L - 2.5 cm;

Lat/Sepal W - 1.5 cm;       Lat/Sepal L - 2.3 cm;

Lip/Pouch W - 2.5 cm;     Lip/Pouch L - 2.2 cm.

Judges' Comments

Al Messina (Accredited Judge, Northeast Judging Center)

This candidate surpasses the quality of the two previously awarded: floriferousness, color, arrangement

Flower count for CHM and AM - 9 and 10 respectively on one inflorescence. This candidate:15 and 18 (on two). Form and flower size are fine and typical of the species.

Color: Sharply marginated, intensely saturated spots without diffusion on white background milieu. Two priors background blush not desirable.

Arrangement: Circumferential and very pleasing. Some crowding appears to be inherent in the genus. Typical Catasetum form, bilaterally symmetric.

This species appears to be a phenomenal grower: From the quite small prior pseudobulb to the one blooming, there appears to be a considerable order 

of magnitude suggesting the next growth will be really something to behold!!

Should score at least mid to high 80's. Next bloom, perhaps higher. Be sure to follow this one.

Kris Mason (Accredited Judge, Cincinnati Judging Center)

Thank you for this lovely species and mentioning fragrance; Good flower count; good size; love green flower color and the lip pattern; lateral sepals have decent form; petals significantly reflexed, dorsal protrudes significantly over column; presentation is crowded, but expected for species; while there are some improvements over other awards, for me, the dorsal and petal presentation precludes a quality award; however, the green base color, intensity of green color and clarity of markings are different from the awarded clones and other examples of the male form of this species. I would give it an 82 point CHM. 

Paul Wetter (Senior Judge, West Palm Beach Judging Center)

Thanks for submitting this lovely Catasetum ivaneae for virtual judging. 

This plant like the two recent previous awards looks like a wonderful newer species. This particular plant is as would be expected and could be considered for an award of High HCC or low AM. Color is very good and form similar to previous awards. I would like to see this with more growth and subsequent blooming with great potential for both culture and quality awards. Would be nice to see subsequent blooms with a bit more fullness and flatness.

Best Regards

Paul Wetter

Joe Bryson (Accredited Judge, Florida North-Central Judging Center)

Very impressive plant. I think I would consider a mid AM and a cultural (CCM/CCE). Previous awards had only 10 and 9 flowers on an infl. This had great energy with 33 flowers on two (over 16 per infl. ave). The flowers are crowded on the infl. and therefore hard to see detail, but the color is spectacular. Form is hard to see. The lip is large compared to the rest of the flower and it appears to turn under at the apex. The dorsal appears to sharply curl on the margins, and would like to see flatter.

Ginna Plude (Accredited Judge, Northeast Judging Center)

I think the lip length may be wrong. What's listed is width as 2.5 and length 2.2 which would make the lip wider than long. It's definitely longer that wide if the photos are accurate. I wonder about the natural spread measurements as well, especially the width, give that the lateral sepals are hugging the lip. If the lip width is 2.5, it's hard to believe the NS width is 3.8.

The coloring of the flowers makes it difficult to see well in the photos, but based on what I am able to discern, the plant is well flowered with a much higher flower count than either awarded plant. However, the form is problematic. The petals roll back over the dorsal sepal and the lateral sepals appear to be hugging the lip. I suspect the environment this plant is growing in is not humid enough. Perhaps with higher humidity on a future flowering the flowers will open/flatten more. Given the form issues I don't feel I could nominate this plant on this flowering.

Ginna

Daria Souvorova (Student Judge, Houston Judging Center)

Very exciting choice for my first month participating. I looked into Catasetum ivaneae expecting to see a plethora of prior awards on OPro, as is generally expected for species, only to find two. This species was only described in 2016, so exciting to get to review a specimen with two flowering inflorescences so soon after its discovery. This plant seems exceptionally well flowered compared to what we have seen from ivaneae before. The first two awards had fairly short, inflorescences with 9-10 flowers rather tightly arranged on the end. 18 and 15 flowers per inflorescence not only increases the quantity of inflorescence, but significantly ups the floriferous-ness of each inflorescence. I find myself very excited to see what these plants will produce as they grow more and more mature. It seems that the added flower count does not take away from the size of each flower, so that is in its favor as well. The inflorescences themselves are a bit notched, I wonder from growing around a smaller pot as the plant developed, and the flowers are still a bit too tightly arranged, but not unpleasantly so. The patterning on the sepals, petals, and lip are very lovely and complemented nicely by the lighter color of the reverse of the flower. I would award a high AM or a low FCC (hesitating there a bit because of the inflorescence presentation and the fact that so little awards have been given to date, that we will surely have more impressive specimen come about in the years to come). With the floriferous ness of this clone, I would encourage the grower to grow it up for a possible cultural award as the plant matures. 

Cheers,

Daria 

Deb Jenson (Student Judge, Chicago Judging Center)

In my research on this species, this candidate is more floriferous than the previously awarded Ctsm. ivaneae, featuring 18 and 15 flowers on 2 inflorescences compared to the previously awarded plant, which had 10 on a single inflorescence. This distinction is a testament to the grower. Additionally, the natural spread is slightly larger than that of the previously awarded plant. The color is attractive, with the chartreuse sepals and petals offsetting the dark, heavily spotted lip. 

However, I am struggling with the form; the dorsal sepal is very cupped, with the edges rolled back. It also appears to be quite narrow compared to its length. I did see that having a cupped dorsal is a characteristic of this species, but it doesn’t seem as pronounced compared to the previously awarded. I also don't see the nice helical arrangement as found on the examples from Fred Clarke. 

I would pass on a quality award, but would consider this for a CHM given the floriferousness.

Christian Carrillo (Accredited Judge, Northeast Judging Center)

Overall, the candidate is impressive with its number of flowers, overall size and harmony of intense color. In some respects, the candidate appears to be a better representation of the species than the previously awarded AM/AOS of 87 points.  The markings of the candidate's lip are intense and nicely defined, contrasting wonderfully with the its base color. While the arrangement seems to be a little crowded — which is expected for the species — I find that the overall presentation of the flowers to be regular and consistent in arrangement, producing a wonderful display on the inflorescence. One major detractor of the candidate is the pronounced, but consistent, rolling of the sides of the dorsal. (The more I look at it, the more distracting it becomes.) Yet, this rolling is consistent and uniform.  Interestingly enough, the awarded plant does not have any dorsal rolling.  I also find that the 87-point AM to appears to look fuller than the candidate.  I do feel the 87 AM was a little over-pointed (based on number of flowers and size). I would nominate the candidate and score a mid-range AM of around 84-85 points. 

Fred Clarke (Accredited Judge, Pacific South Judging Center, Sunset Valley Orchids, CA)

Here are photos of a couple ‘nice’ ones we bloomed here.

 My impression of the flowers in this example is:

 Good overall color, nice lip shape, 2 inflorescences,

 Low flower count, poor shape of the petals and sepals,

 For this is a species, it’s natural for this to have cuppy flowers due the dense well-arranged flowers numbering 45 or more from a well bloomed plants.

Exhibitor - Svetlana Malayev (Student Judge, Northeast Judging Center, NJ)

Virtual Award Description

Grower's Advice