DISCUSSION
Although C. seidelianum was introduced to cultivation several years before it was described, it was mistakenly identified horticulturally as C. fosterianum, both overseas (Lineham, 1992) and in Brazil. The dense, dark-purplc-ferruginous crossbands on the leaves helped perpetuate the error because C. fosterianum also exhibits this pattern, but it is much more intense and less irregular in C. seidelianum. The leaf sheaths of C. seidelianum form an elongated, crateriform rosette, with spreading, almost patent, blades. In contrast, thc rosette of C. fosterianum is primarily tubular. As for the flowers, the sepals of C. seidelianum are slightly larger than those of C. auratum, but smaller that those of C. fosterianum. The yellow-green color pattern brings this species closer to C. auratum than to C. fosterianum or C. montanum with their mostly white sepals.
There are only two clues to the origin of C. seidelianum, and both point to the Itambe region, in Bahia, where the species is an epiphyte in the Atlantic forest, at 400 to 700 m altitude.
This region is slightly farther inland than where C. montanum and C. fosterianum are found, but it still lies within the cacao raising region. Cacao farming is declining rapidly today, and there is very little left of original forest cover, which explains why the plant collections date from some 20 years ago.
Canistrum seidelianum is well represented in cultivation by at least two clones: one is from A. Seidel's collection; the other plants belong to the Roberto Burle Marx collection. There is no record of this species occurring in protected areas. —SeeLeme 1997a
