Another sign of Autumn is the flowering of Octomeria densiflora. This species has featured in many of the great autumn shows we usually take part in. We are really missing meeting all our orchid show friends hope that we will see you all soon.

This beautiful species is native to the Mata Atlantica cool cloud forests of Brazil and a species we found near Macae de Cima on our expeditions in 2001 and 2006 at around 1300m altitude.

The lemon yellow flowers have a red lip,and are small (about 1cm across) but are produced in profusion. The grey-green thick leaves are also very attractive.

All of our plants have come from a single flask purchased from Equatorial Plants in 2001 and we regularly have small divisions for sale. The plants grow well in pots, baskets and mounted. We find that the mounted plants are very floriferous but suffer a little more with black spotting on the leaves from heat stress.

The flowers are short lived but produce a dramatic display with the small plants smothered in flowers.