SITF Submissions and Findings

Coelogyne edii (Synonym Pholidota sulcata) matches the description and photos in the IOSPE, OW, (As Pholidota sulcata) and orchidroots; IOSPE has a very good close-up photo of the species flower and a photo of the plant that is a very good match to this submission; the five-nerved leaves also fit the description of C. edii.

Dr. Daniel Geiger, the globally recognized authority in the Genus Oberonia, has reassessed this plant and now identifies it as Oberonia cylindrica. He also stated these two species are similiar and in the future O. cylindrica could possibly become a subspecies under O. mucronata.

This plant does not match the drawing by Hooker in 1824, the apiculations on the apices of the sepals and petals are much longer than shown in the drawing. The form of O. dolabratus fits this flower better than O gladiatus, especially the dorsal sepal. The lateral sepals appear connated all the way to a long, apiculated apex, where the lateral sepals on O. gladiatus are spread and the long spur like extension at the apex of the lip matches O. dolabratus as can be seen in the IOSPE photo. Other matching photos can be found in the OW and Pinterest.

This is correct based on the description in Baker and Baker's 2006 "Orchid Species Culture: Oncidium/Odontoglossum Allaince" under the old synonym Odontoglossum lucianianum; this species has two keels covered with soft hairs and a column with a pair of wings in the form of slender, sharply pointed, fingerlike projections that emerge near the stigma. Matches illustration in Chase et. al. 1997, "The Pictorial Encyclopedia of Oncidium" (also as Odont. lucianianum) and to photos in the OW.

This species can be recognized by the brush-cut, rectangular patch of short bristles in the lip throat. The resolution and soft focus of these photos do not produce images sharp enough to see these bristles in detail, and although they can't be resolved, they can be barely seen in one photo. A similar species, P. zambesiaca is described as having a sharply pointed midlobe apex, wheras P. lawrenceana has a broadly blunted, bilobed midlobe apex. In the description of P. zambesiaca, it is pointed out that this species is variable and there are often intermediate forms which make it difficult to draw a dividing line. In many of the available photos of either species, the lip apices may be seen that are sharply pointed or bilobed.

According to the late Eric Christenson, M. hematoglossa is most similar to M. praestans, but differs in the spots that form the stripes, being concentrated only near the base in M. praestans and all the way out on the segments in M. hematoglossa and in the relative length of the crest and side lobes of the two species; in M. hematoglossa the side lobes are about 1/3 the length of the lip and in M. praestans, about 1/2 the length. This plant shows the lip side lobe length to be less than 1/2 the total lip. Another similar species, M. cucullata, does not have this dark lip and the sepals and petals are unspotted. This plant matches the photo of M. hematoglossa in Christenson's Unfinished Monograph, Vol. 1. Matching photos of M. hematoglossa can also be found in the IOSPE, OW and orchidroots.com.