Yesterday’s Dendrobium teretifolium was a pendulous plant where as today’s Gongora maculata just has pendulous flower spikes. This habit can make accommodating plants in cultivation a little tricky but of course if you live on a tree makes lots of sense.

Gongora maculata is one of the larger growing species and produces large flowers on long pendulous spikes. The species is found in warm forests across South America and as a result the species is variable. The flowers on this clone are very heavily spotted in dark red but there are less spotted clones around.

We grow the plant like all our Gongoras in a basket so that it can be hung up when the flower spikes appear although we find plants prefer to sit on a bench when not in flower as they are then much easier to keep well watered. We find that plants prefer wet roots and dryer air to keep leaves in good condition and to make up the large bulbs which produce multiple long flower spikes.

The final photo shows Gongora maculata alongside Gongora unicolor which I posted on February 2nd and in is still flowering (from a third flower spike)