Odontoglossum reversum is a diminutive member of the genus and with us plants grow to 15cm and have short arching flower spikes carrying a few flowers each 4cm across with an interesting white lip with two pointed spikes (presumably part of the pollination adaption) as shown in the side on photo.
The species comes from cloud forests from 1500m-3000m altitude in Ecuador and Colombia. Our clone is from Peruflora.
The wonderful Himalayan species Dendrobium densiflorum is the run away winner of orchid of the week with nearly 70% of the popular vote. Thanks to all who voted, the next chance to vote is on Saturday.
April marks the start of Orchid Safari time in Britain with the flowering of our early species such as the Early Purple (Orchis mascula) I found my first one of the year in Cornwall this week (actually Annie spotted it on the side of the main road on the Lizard as we drove past)
Fist flowers opening on April 10th – has anyone seen flowers earlier?
Some plants seem to change their name more than others. We first purchased this species in the 1990’s as Pleurothallis tubata before changing it to Physosiphon tubatus to reflect changes in Pleurothallis, before changing it back to Pleurothallis tubata, then changing it recently to Stelis tubata and today checking with theplantlist.org we have changed it again to Stelis emarginata.
What ever its name it is a fantastic small growing orchid that does well in pots, mounted or in baskets, producing masses of small orange or yellow flowers that cover the plant. The leaves are stiff and rather spoon shaped, lasting many years and producing fresh flower spikes when ever the plant comes into bloom.
Stelis seems to fit it well but it is a tougher plant that many of the Stelis species we grow so a great addition to any collection. We grow it in Cool Americas where the orange clone flowers in April and the yellow clone flowers in May. It is native to central America and is found from 1800 to 3500m altitude indicating that it could grow cooler than we grow it.
Masdevallia infracta comes from the Mata Atlantica cloud forests of Eatern Brazil where we have seen it growing in the same forests that support Cattleya coccinea (day 20). On our school expedition to Brazil in 2001 we helped with the relocation of a small population of this species from the underside of a recently fallen tree to nearby locations that may suit continued survival of the plants to set seed and support future generations.
Flowers are produced successively over a long period from the top of the flower stems and so it is important to take care not to cut of ‘finished flower spikes’ that may go on producing for several years. The shape of the flowers and the red colour indicate that it is probably humming bird pollinated.
Our plant grows mounted in Cool Americas.