We visited the coastal cloud forests of Brazil (Mata Atlantica in 2000 and again in 2006 and had the privilege of exploring this extraordinarily diverse habitat full of orchids and other plants.

Pleurothallis limeae is a Brazilian terrestrial species and we found it growing abundantly around Macae de Cima in Rio State in regrowth forest near our base at 1200m altitude.

It seemed to prefer growing in moss protected by scrubby regrowth and made large mats of its heart shaped leaves in an area of regrowth where the forest had burnt about twenty years before our visit in 2006.

The plant shown here was grown from seed collected in 2006 which flowered about six years from sowing. We find it does best for us in a basket on a bench in Cool Americas where it is kept damp and shaded.

Our cool Americas section is home to our very diverse Masdevallia collection and several species are comming into flower after a summer of growing lots of new leaves.

This is a small sized Masdevallia native to Peru that grows in cool forest around 2300m altitude where it grows as an epiphyte of lithophyte. It has thick rounded leaves and the flowers are produced in profusion on stems much shorter than the leaves. The colouring is similar to Masdevallia oreas and several other masdevallia species but each has their own character and we are very fond of pyxis because of its vigorous growth habit and cute little flowers.

We find that growing the species mounted or in a small basket shows of the flowers to their best but it grows very well in a small pot. We find that it works well to stand the pot on something that allows you to see under the leaves.

This lovely, small growing, species is native to Papua New Guinea where it grows in wet montane forests from 1500-2500m. We find that the species although small is a relatively fast grower especially if kept well watered and it soon take over its bark mount or escapes from its small pot.

The pretty flowers feature an unusual creamy white tubular lip, and the 1.5cm flowers are large compared to the tiny bulbs and leaves. Flowers appear in profusion giving a brilliant display on a mature plant.

We grow the species in our Warm Asia section, although it would grow cooler than our minimum of 17C, and spray plants daily.

The species is closely related to the slightly larger Bulbophyllum dolichoglottis (below) which has an even longer tubular lip.

Today we have the first flowering of this remarkable deep red flowered Cymbidium species. The plants are native to Borneo and found in Sabah in lowland forests. Cymbidium angustifolium is generally considered a synonym of Cymbidium dayanum which more usually red and white (see our plant flowering last year below)

Cymbidium dayanum has a very large range from Sikkim in the Himalayas through China, South East Asia, the Philippines and Borneo and so it would be a surprise if it was not a variable species. However to our eye Cymbidium angustifolium is rather significantly different from the Cymbidium dayanums that we have seen with much smaller and thinner leaves, smaller flowers, and a differently shaped lip, as well as the obvious colour difference.

Whether the plant is an extreme variant within the range of Cymbidium dayanum or a separate species doesn’t matter too much as both types are very beautiful, but we chose to keep our Cym. angustifolium separate and will produce seed from a selfing, avoiding crossing with the more typical striped form and losing the distinct features.

Our striped Cymbidium dayanum will be flowering again soon and so we can do a close comparison between flowers and plants when that happens.

We are counting down to our 1000th Orchid of the Day with a tour around the tropical world and our student expeditions through the medium of our September flowering orchids.

Our first tropical school expedition was to Brazil in 2000 as hosts of the Rio Atlantic Forest Trust and our first contact with the genus Cattleya in the wild.

Cattleya loddigesii grows near the Atlantic coast of Brail from 600-900m and was once common in the swampy forests along the regions rivers including the Rio Grande, Rio Tiete, Rio Pardo. Unfortunately much of this forest is now gone and in Brazil we drove through an area where the species had been recorded which is now treeless low grade pasture.

We have a few clones of Cattleya loddigesii and this is a smaller growing clone donated by a Wiltshire orchid grower around twenty-five years ago.

We find the species thrives in a basket hanging in the roof of Warm Americas where it gets lots of light and dries out between watering.