Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Trichoceros antennifer

I purchased this plant as an unidentified species from Peru.  The consensus seems to be that it is Trichoceros antennifer.  All the Trichoceros species are insect mimics, most of them mimicking some kind of fly.

This plant produces very hard 2 cm pseudobulbs with a tiny leaf at the top.  The long flower spike, about 30 cm, rises from the base of the pseudobulbs and produces its flower in succession, so that usually no more than one is open at the same time.

The flowers are non-resupinate, that is, they hold their lip uppermost, unlike most orchids which twist their flowers around before opening so that the lip points down.  The picture of the flower that I've posted,  therefore, is not upside down.



2 comments:

  1. Beautiful plant and flower. I can't get a sense of size - this is a pretty small plant, isn't it? Looks like it grows really well for you. Have you had any success with Telipogon? The plant looks (at leas superficially) similar to one... I've been tempted to try a Telipogon, but haven't taken the plunge yet...

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  2. Duane,
    It is a very small plant with fairly long spikes - just fits my case. In fact, in this post you can see the spike up at the top of the case toward the right: http://orchidsinbloom-ron.blogspot.com/2010/08/orchidarium-update.html I've never tried Telipogon, but would very much like to do so. If you are interested in a piece of this plant, I'll put your name on it for the first division (it's getting near time to divide it.

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