At 11:06 AM 8/30/2004 -0400, you wrote: >Dear Brian, Prem and OGD's, >The Bluish Cleistes was growing along with what I assume to be Cleistes limbonii >http://www.orchidspecies.com/cleilimbonii.htm >At elevations around 500 meters in cooler, shady wet montane forest along the side of >the road in Sao Paulo State Brazil. It was quite a sight to see. there were 30 or so >plants along 50' of highway and only one had this appearance all the others were like >C limbonii. These flowers were at least 4 to 5" across. An interesting sidenote, >Ceistes do not have pollina they have a powder that releases when something touches >the column. The female part is not a hole but a raspy rough area along the bottom of >the extreme back of the lip area. Marcos, my guide there in Brazil seems to think >that Cleistes is a prehistoric forerunner to modern Orchids. >Thanks to all that have helped me with my unknown terrestrials. >I will give a list of the names later today. >Jay Pfahl
I will agree on the pollen being mealy...not adhering in pollinia, but they are definitely true orchids. With Pogonia ophioglossoides and Cleistes divaricata, the stigmatic surface is just behind the anther and is a sticky disc...it doesn't form a depression as in many other orchids, but it wasn't more difficult to find than the stigma on a Cattleya, for instance. ---Prem www.premdesign.com
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