Many of the twenty five Stelis species we grow at Writhlington produce their flowers in real profusion and Stelis brunnea is a good example to show just how rewarding these small flowered species from South and Central America are.

This species comes from cloud forests in Ecuador and its delicate white flowers open and close with the humidity in the greenhouse – they like it damp and close when the humidity becomes to low. In common with many stelis species, plants produce multiple flower spikes from both old and new growths. There are lots of spikes still to come and so this lovely plant will be in flower for many weeks and should make an appearence at both the Bournemouth Show (March 30th/31st) and the RHS London Orchid Show (8th-10th April).

All our Stelis species live in Cool Americas (min12C) and are kept damp all year and shaded in the summer. We find that the larger growing species like this one do particularly well in a 10cm basket where they can develop into mature specimens.