FloraPix

1879 - Bromeliads (Garden) - 2007-11-27
(Dimension: 832 x 1157 pixels - Counter: 13538)
Catopsis micrantha (staminate)

Photographer: Derek Butcher
Note: Said to have been collected in Guatemala and the short floral bracts lead me to this name

Identification: pending

(Click on the picture to enlarge)

Add Note: Harry Luther (2007-11-27) - Excuse me, rather Catopsis minimiflora Matuda not C.micrantha. Its getting to late to det Catopsis.
Add Note: Derek Butcher (2007-11-27) - Harry
You have put the cat amongst the pigeons now! I can see that Peter Tristram and Chris Larson - down under - will have to do some tickling unless they have a steadier hand than I, to find out the sex of the plant. For some reason Palaci did not refer to Catopsis minimiflora in his 1997 Doctoral thesis but we are told it has perfect flowers and comes from Chiapas Mexico which is next door to Guatemala. This means that it should be able to set seed - hence my challenge to Peter and Chris. Catopsis micrantha has only either male plants or female plants and my plant had lots of pollen but I could not find out if the female part was functional. Remember that the flower is about 3.5 mm long!!
The leaf blade for C. micrantha is 4cm wide and 1.8cm wide for C. minimiflora whereas mine is 3cm !
To think that Chris Larson dropped off a flowering plant for me to look at and within 24 hours I had come up with C. micrantha which at the time I thought was rather clever of me!
Must keep smiling
Add Note: Eric Gouda (2007-11-27) - Ah, duscussion already started. Pictures are moved to the identification pages, so don't look for them in the Gallery
Eric