As April comes to a close, the greenhouse is full of a mix of exotic fragrances this week and amongst the most fragrant is this warm growing species from Central America.

We have seen the species in the wild in Guatemala growing in dryish lowland forest. We found it mostly on the trunks of trees or on lower branches where it has some shade even thoough the forest is open and trees are semi-deciduous. It is locally called the coconut orchid as it produces a powerful fragrance which is unmistakably coconut.

The plant has an ascending habit with a rhizome that grows bulbs progressively upwards which can make potting inconvenient and we grow plants mounted or in baskets in our Warm Americas section but ensure that it has more shade than most of the plants in that section under some permanent additional shade net.

We have added a miniature cousin of this species, Maxillaria acuminata (below), to our online shop today along with several other miniature orchids.