365 days of orchids – day 179 – Gomesa flexuosa
This Brazillian species has recently been transferred from Oncidium to Gomesa along with many of the Brazillian oncidiums. It is native the the Mata Atlantica forests running along the Atlantic Coast of Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay and Argentina. It is found from as an epiphyte from coastal marshes up to 1200m and adapted to the seasonal dry period by growing a mass of roots. We grow the species mounted as it has something of a climbing habit with each pseudobulb growing above the previous one.
It is a reliable tough species and delivers real impact each summer with masses of small yellow flowers on branched flower spikes as shown in the photographs. It has featured in our displays at Hampton Court Flower Show but moving it is always a bit of a problem as its roots will have grown and fixed it firmly the the wire mesh we support our mounted plants on.
We have seen similar species in Brazil where the mass of yellow flowers in the canopy can be seen hundreds of metres across a valley.
Discussion