365 days of orchids – day 634 – Gongora bufonia
We can guarantee that there is always at least one gongora species in flower in the school greenhouse and this week we have our Gongora bufonias bursting into flower.
Gongora bufonia is a medium sized plant but one that produces impressive long flower spikes densely packed with flowers (45 flowers on this spike today). The flowers are smallish but give a great display. The species is found in Colombia and Brazil and with us flowers in the summer and autumn (the winter and spring in its natural habitat)
As with all our gongoras we grow plants in baskets and keep them well watered all year. We find it easier to manage baskets on a bench until flower spikes are produced and then we hang the plant up to flower.
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Como fazer a polinização
Dear William, pollinating Gongora species is a little fiddly we use a match stick and push it against the viscidium (sticky pad at the tip of the pollen cap) so that the pollinia stick to the match stick. The pollinia then need to be slid into the narrow gap of the stigma just bellow the now removed pollen cap.