Our monkey faced draculas are flowering again! Aways one of our most popular orchids when students run greenhouse tours on open days, Dracula amaliae is native to cloud forests in Colombia at around 1800m altitude. As with most Draculas it is pollinated by fungus gnats and attracts them with a fake mushroom shaped lip. This also […]

A mixed collection is always fill of pleasant surprises and this morning it was the first flowering of this gorgeous Bulbophyllum seedling. Bulbophyllum vaginatum is a Sarawak orchid and so one of the species we are keen to propagate for our project with partners in Kuching. The species produces massed heads of cream and yellow […]

Related to the past two day’s Masdevallias we have another small growing cloud forest species in Pleurothallis tridentata. The species has 5cm heart shaped leaves on thin stems and charming miniature yellow flowers produced in ones and twos throughout the year. The species is reported as native to cloud forests from Venezuela to Peru and […]

  It seems to be turning into Masdevallia week here at Writhlington. Today we have a miniature species that produces multiple flowers on each spike. The leaves are 8cm high with spikes to 15cm with two to six flowers each.   Masdevallia pachyura is found in cloud forests from 1000 to 3000m in Ecuador and […]

Regulars will know that amongst our many fragrant orchid species we have some real stinkers, and Masdevallia picea is one of them. Masdevallia picea is native to cloud forests in Peru at around 2700m altitude where its large deep red flowers attract fly pollinators assisted by the scent of rotting stuff – it reminds me […]