Al wrote:

Do these names refer the same plants? I have been growing a plant of
Ascocentrum pumilum for several years. It is very small and the leaves are
needle-like and resemble pine needles. I just received some Ascolabium
pumilum pieces and these have leaves that look more like Ascocentrum
miniatum leaves. I had concluded before buying the Ascolabium that these
two names were synonyms but now I am confused again.




http://www.orchideen-journal.de/pdf/artikel4_2000.pdf

If you can read german... I used to be able to, I can't anymore (it has
been ~20 years since I've tried seriously). Anyway, unless somebody
corrects me, the practical upshot of the article is that Ascocentrum
pumilum (Averyanov?) has been moved to 'Ascocentropsis pumilum' (Senghas
& Schildhauer). This is the opinion of these two persons, whom I
personally have not heard of, but I don't know beans (or peas, or
lettuce, for that matter). They consider the possibility that it might
be a Robequetia, but dismiss it. And there is something in there about
Ascolabium pumilum (something about Asctm. pumilum being called that for
20 years, or 20 years ago, or... It is in the same sentence at
least...). It is a PDF, or I might try babelfish on it.

Something in there about 'never having seen so many false names
(mislabelled plants?) as in Bangkok' (ok, it probably says something
else...) I thought that was interesting.

Anyway, whatever you have sounds pretty neat. As does whatever this
article describes. If you are making copies (of the plant), sign me up
for one or two. Seriously, I'm really getting into Ascocentrums (not
vandas, not hybrids, just Asctm... weird, huh?). Asctm.
christensonianum is pretty darn neat, if you don't already have it.

Rob

--
Rob's Rules: http://www.msu.edu/~halgren
1) There is always room for one more orchid
2) There is always room for two more orchids
2a. See rule 1
3) When one has insufficient credit to purchase
more orchids, obtain more credit