With under a month to go until the opening of the British Orchid Show and Congress we are starting to wonder which of our orchids will be in flower for our big weekend.

One we are really hoping will still be inflower is Stelis polyantha. The exquisite spikes of tiny pinky brown flowers really need to be seen to be appreciated and really demonstrate the beauty of small flowered orchids.

Stelis polyantha is a small flowered species from Ecuador where it is found in cloud forest at around 3000m. The small size of the flowers is made up for in the number of flowers per spike and the number of spikes produces that give a pinky ‘cloud’ around the plant when in flower.

Just a reminder in case you missed it – all the latest news about the British orchid show and congress are in this month’s newsletter

It will be a busy week for us here at the Orchid Project as students have been invited to stage an orchid display at the International illegal Wildlife Trade Conference being hosted by the UK Government in London.

We are working with our partner scientists at the Oxford Martin Programme on the Illegal Wildlife Trade at the University of Oxford who have succeeded in getting plants and particularly orchids included in the conference. The display will include a number of orchid species threatened by unsustainable illegal trade. We have seen examples of this trade first hand in Laos where organised crime is stripping forests of its valuable species, including orchids, and destroying opportunities for the sustainable development of the forest for the benefit of the local community.

We will bring you more news as it happens during the week.

This species is closely related to Stenoglottis fimbriata (day 627) and is also a terrestrial species from South Africa. It is found on mossy banks in the Drakensberg Mountains and so is a really cool growing orchid. We grow the species in our Temperate section with a minimum winter temperature of 4C and vents that open at 10C. We keep plants wet all summer but let them dry out from the end of December when the leaves turn brown and fall off.

The species differs from Stenoglottis fimbriata in the larger rounder flowers, leaves without spots and generally more robust and larger growth habit. It flowers about a month after Stenoglottis fimbriata from late October through to January.

The species can also be separated by the lip details shown below (thanks Joe for the great photos)

 Stenoglottis longifolia has a lip ending in seven points (three from each side lobe and one from the midlobe)

 Stenoglottis fimbriata has a lip ending in three points (the mid lobe and two side lobes)

Interestingly we have made a hybrid between the two and seedlings have turned out very intermediate between the parents. Crossing the very spotted leaves of S.fimbriata with the all green leaves of S. longifolia has produced leaves with a few spots, and the flowers have a lip ending in generally five points with two from each side lobe shown below.

 Stenoglottis longifolia x fimbriata

All three plants will still be in flower for the Bristish Orchid Show and Congress from 2nd-4th November so do come and have a close look for yourselves.

One treat in the greenhouse this week is the many flowered branched spikes of Polystachya pachychila. This is a small flowered African species and we have seen it growing in Nyungwe National Park Rwanda on our five expeditions to work with schools and colleges  from 2013 – 2016.

The photo below shows the species growing on the trunk of a small tree on the edge of Kamaranzivu swamp. (1200m) in Nyungwe National Park.

This shows a plant growing in moss which provides a constant dampness during the wet season though the moss will dry for a while in the dry season (summer) The colour of the leaves and stems also shows that the plant grows happily in almost full sun although other plants were found in more shaded spots.

In cultivation we grow the species in Warm Asia and keep it watered throughout the year. The plant flowers over a period of months as successive small flowers are produced from the flower spike. Although small the flowers are attractively spotted as are the flower spikes making this a rewarding species to grow.

Read more about our work in Rwanda here including our 2014 expedition and posts from 2016 expeditions