Saturday, April 26, 2014

Pleurothallis mathildae

Pleurothallis mathildae or Trichosalpinx mathildae, as it is sometimes known, is a small species from Brazil.  My plant is 7 cm tall and the flower spikes about the same length, the flower less than 1 cm in size.  The flowers are attractive when seen close but are very small and do not open widely.






Saturday, April 19, 2014

Porroglossum driesei

The Porroglossums are a strange groups of orchids.  They all have hinged, insect trapping lips and two of the pictures below show this species with the lip open and closed.  Porroglossum dreisei is from Ecuador and blooms repeatedly on the same flower spikes, so that it is seldom out of bloom.  The plant is 4 cm tall, the flower spikes are 12 cm long and the flowers 1.5 cm, oddly shaped and oddly colored.





Wednesday, April 16, 2014

Masdevallia lamprotyria

Masdevallia lamprotyria is a very fragrant species from Ecuador and Peru.  It's scent will perfume a whole room, but it's colorful and oddly shaped flowers are attractive too.  It has narrow, upright leaves that are 10 cm and the flowers, produced int he spring, are 3 cm.  The name lamprotyria refers to the color of the flowers and the scent is of lilacs.






Thursday, April 10, 2014

Masdevallia mendozae

Masdevallia mendozae is a cool-growing species from the highlands of Ecuador.  It is one of the species in section Saltatrices, a group of species with brightly colored tubular flowers that are lined with glandular hairs, visible in these pictures.  It is somewhat difficult to grow, at least in my experience.  I had a large plant that seemed to be gradually dying off but which has now started to come back and I do not know what caused the decline or why it has started to recover.




Saturday, April 5, 2014

Paphiopedilum China Dragon

Paphiopedilum China Dragon is a hybrid of Paphiopedilum Nisqually and Paphiopedilum China Song, and has four species in its background, Paphiopedilums acmodontum, appletonianum, bullenianum, and a double dose of sukhakulii.  It has variegated foliage and blooms faithfully for me every spring.





Tuesday, April 1, 2014

Dendrobium leucocyanum

Dendrobium leucocyanum is a miniature species from high altitude montane forests in New Guinea.  It is cool to cold growing and produced clusters of pale blue flowers in late winter.  The flowers are 0.4cm long and do not open very widely.  The pseudobulbs with their leaves are 2-3cm tall.  The plant blooms on the older leafless pseudobulbs.  This blooming only had three flowers, the first time the plant bloomed for me, but the clusters can have many more flowers.