We love an orchid species with a good name and Masdevallia pandurilabia gets its name from its lute shaped lip (its actually rather small so a teeny weeny lute). We also love the little red spots and the cute crossed legged look of the sepaline tails on the flowers held on long spikes well clear of the leaves.

Masdevallia pandurilabia is a small growing species native to Peru, where it grows in cloud forest above 2600m altitude loving it cool and moist with good air movement. Some species from similar habitats are a challenge to grow well in a greenhouse, but this species seems to be a vigorous grower and as you can see from the photo on the left produces lovely glossy leaves too. We grow this species in baskets of bark and moss and give it a minimum of 10-12C.