I said yesterday that our miniatures at Bristol were really appreciated and here’s a second of those miniatures. Stelis stevensonii is a vigorous small growing plant that produces lots of spikes of well spaced little flowers typical of the genus.

This species is endemic to Ecuador and lives in wet forests at around 1600m. This is a warmer habitat than some of our species are adapted for making this species less fussy about warm days in the greenhouse and an easy plant to grow as long as it is kept well watered and shaded. The plant here is in a 3cm pot.

If you look closely at the flowers with a magnifying glass they have hairy edges to the sepals – an extra bonus for a rewarding orchid species.