November and December are great months for Trisetella species and we have several species coming into flower in time for Orchid Christmas next month. All Trisitella species are true miniatures and all are spectacular in one way or another.

Trisetella scobina is a tiny plant with leaves just 15mm long that over time form a a little clump on the cork mount. Each autumn the clump produces long thin flower spikes that produce very large (in comparison) flowers dominated by a deep red synsepal and long yellow tails. The flower spikes will produce several flowers successively over a long period so don’t cut them off until they are old and dead. The long thin flower stems are interestingly hairy too.

This species is a cloud forest endemic found in Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia from in forests up to 2000m. We only grow the species mounted because of its size but find it a relatively straight forward species if kept well watered and shaded.