The American Orchid Society

SITF Submissions and Findings

The Species Identification Task Force receives submissions from orchid judging centers or exhibitors. The submissions are labeled by the name submitted under. When the plant's identity is confirmed, the last line in the post will have the correct name. We sometimes update pages with reference material pertinent to the submission.

_Gastrochilus-acinacifolius-2022-04-17 *SITF confirms that this plant is Gastrochilus acinacifolius (Aug 2023).

The description in the worldfloraonline.Org states the leaves of G. acinacifolius are distichous; the blade is usually falcate-oblong, 7-14 x 1-2 cm with an acute apex and two short awns (bristles). The leaves of this plant are 8 cm by 2 cm, distichous and slightly falcate to sabre shaped and are acute. The apex of the newest leaf shows two curved, thorn like appendages. The leaves are mottled with purple spots covering the surface. The closest species for comparison might be Gastrochilus japonicus, however, the color of the sepals and petals as concolor with no markings do not fit as well as this plant, which has prominent red-brown spots on a yellow flower. This plant is an almost perfect match to the photo of G. acinacifoius and to the photo of the plant and flowers in the IOSPE.

Posted on Apr 17, 2022

Gastrochilus-rutilans-Susan-CBR/AOS-2022-02-07 SITF confirmed as Gastrochilus rutilans (Oct 2022); this appears to be a lighter, xanthic color example of the species; flower size and form matches description; closely matches description by Seidenfaden's 1998 Opera Botanica #95; ID supported by photos in the 2001 "Field Guide to Wild Orchids" (Vaddhanaphuti), the OW and orchidroots.com.

Posted on Feb 7, 2022

Eight flowers presented on a 3.5 cm umbellate inflorescence emerging from between the leaves of a monopodial 5-leaved, many rooted plant clinging to a wood branch; leaves linear lanceolate, acute, ent...