Tiny but perfectly formed – Platystele consorbrina is a very special orchid. I was delighted to read the recent feedback from one of our online customers;  “Such a sweet little plant, but wasn’t sure what the long fine hair like spike was till I got a magnifying glass. It was the flower stem and the tiniest flower I’ve ever seen. So to view this you need to keep your magnifying glass next to the plant… Unique little plant”

The Colombian species is almost always in flower as the very long spikes produce flowers successively over several months. The individual flowers are just a few mm across and have a lovely deep red lip that contrasts with the other pale petals and sepals.

The plant here is in a 5.5cm pot and the leaves are 5cm long making the plant very compact apart from the very long spikes.

The species grows in wet forests from 1600-2100m which makes it less fussy about temperatures than some Platystele species and we grow it both cool (min 10C) intermediate (min 13C) and warm (min 17C) and in each environment we find it is a vigorous grower provided it is kept shaded.

We do have plants for sale at the shop