The flowers of this wonderful, small growing, Masdevallia always makes me think of the spotted heads of nestlings, poking up from the nest of leaves, with gaping mouths asking to be fed – what do you think?

Masdevallia dynastes is a very floriferous species endemic to cloud forests in Ecuador from 1400-2800m altitude. These long lasting flowers will be out until at least the end of March, providing an engaging display in our Cool Americas section.

We find the species enjoys a damp spot but not too shady where it then multiplies quickly. The leaves are 4cm long and the 1cm flowers are held just clear of the leaves.

We grow the species in our Cool Americas section with a minimum of 12C and keep it well watered throughout the year. As you can see we sometimes have a little too much moss competing with our plants and they appreciate regular repotting into fresh bark.