Masdevallia naevia

Masdevallia naevia belongs to the Caudatae section of the genus Masdevallia and comes from Ecuador.  The flowers are beautifully colored but always look awkward and stiff to me.  The plant is 12-15cm and the flowers 10-12cm.  The species name, "naevia" means "birthmark" and refers to the purple spot on the dorsal sepal.  The section it belongs too, Caudatae, gets its name from the long "tails" that the species in this section have.

Epigeneium nakaharaei

I posted this species not long ago, but took more pictures the other day since it is now at the peak of its bloom cycle and covered with flowers.  At that time I wrote: Epigeneium nakaharaei is from Taiwan and is closely related to Dendrobium.  In fact, it was once classified as a Dendrobium.  The growths are 3-4 cm and the flowers 2.5 cm with a glossy brown lip.  It quickly forms a large clump and scrambles all over and for that reason is best grown on a mount.  It blooms in the autumn.  The individual flowers are not long lasting, but it continues to produces flowers for several months.

Barbosella australis

It must be Barbosella season since all of my species have been in bloom recently including this species.  Barbosella australis is a rather common miniature orchid species from Brazil (the name "australis" means "southern").  It should be grown on a mount and forms a creeping mat of small 1.5 cm leaves and produces flowers that larger than the leaves, about 2 cm long.  It is related to Pleurothallis and Masdevallia, a Pleurothallid.

Masdevallia fuchsii

Masdevallia fuchsii is from Peru and belongs to the Saltatrices section of the genus, plants whose flowers are tubular and have "bellies" and hairs on the insides of the flowers.  I have several plants of this species and this plant's flowers are more yellow than the others.  The plant is 10cm tall and the flowers 4cm.

Masdevallia strobelii

This is a very small plant but a prolific bloomer and very fragrant.  Masevallia strobelii belongs to the Saltatrices section of the genus Masdevallia and has the typical features of the species in that section, a slight bulge or "belly" at the bottom  of the flower, the flower tube lined with glandular hairs and bright color. It comes from Ecuador and is much used in hybridizing.  As with almost all my Masdevallias, it is grown in live sphagnum in a plastic net pot.

Barbosella cucullata

I've posted this species before, but last time it bloomed it had only two flowers.  It did much better this fall.  The species has thick, channeled leaves 5 cm long and 4 cm flowers on 15 cm spikes.  It is from Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela and is related to Masdevallia and Pleurothallis.  I grow it in live sphagnum and try to keep it slightly dry which it seems to prefer.  I've found, too, that the flowers are not very long-lasting.