One of our most dramatic larger growing Pleurothallis species is this red flowered orchid from Central America.

It is a robust species that grows attractive glossy leaves before producing long dramatic spikes of deep red flowers in the autumn. It will produce fantastic specimen plants as well as flowering from small plants. We have two distinct clones – the one shown here is larger and more upright (see Ed for scale) which flowers in September and a smaller more pendulous clone that flowers in November. (Last November’s photo below)

We grow the species in baskets, pots  and mounted on bark.

The natural habitat of the species is damp forests and cloud forests from Mexico to Panama between 700m and 2400m altitude. This broad natural range supports our observation that this is an adaptable and accommodating plant to grow. We have found that the plant does best in deep shade and heat/light stress can cause leaf drop.