Monday, August 29, 2016

Dendrobium hellwigianum


I posted this species several weeks ago but the photos were of another plant, since I have two plants.  This is the other, not much different except that flowers have a slightly different color.  The species is from New Guinea, belong to the oxyglossum section fo the genus Dendrobium and is around 10 cm tall with 3-4 cm flowers.





Thursday, August 25, 2016

Promenaea stapelioides


The Promenaeas, a genus of around eighteen species from Brazil, are all cool growing, lower light plants with soft leaves and small pseudobulbs.  This species, my favorite, is named for its flowers' resemblance to the flowers of a Stapelia plant.  The plant is 8 cm tall with bluish-green leaves and large 4 cm flowers.  It does not bloom as prolifically as some of the other species, but the flowers are uniquely colored and patterned.  I grow it in live sphagnum in a plastic net pot and keep it moist with high humidity.


Dendrobium Flower Baby


Dendrobium Flower Baby is a hybrid of Dendrobium cuthbertsonii with Dendrobium victoria-reginae, a much larger species with thin semi-pendant canes.  In color and patterning the flowers resemble the larger parent but the plant size has been much reduced and the canes have become thick upright pseudobulbs.  I have two plants of this cross, this plant slightly taller than the other with paler flowers.  The plant is 10 cm tall and the flowers 3 cm.



Wednesday, August 17, 2016

Masdevallia glomerosa


Masdevallia glomerosa is from Ecuador and belongs to the Saltatrices group of Masdevallias.  These have tubular flowers, bright colors, glandular hairs lining the inside of the flower and a distinct bulge at the bast of the flower tube.  The photos shown here display these features.  This is a small species, the plants growing to about 10 cm with 3-4 cm flowers.  I grow it like many of my other Masdevallias, in a plastic net pot and live sphagnum.  It is watered nearly every day and given a very weak solution of fertilizer every few weeks.






Monday, August 8, 2016

Dendrobium hellwigianum


I have two different plants of Dendrobium hellwigianum, the other one of them a paler pink and with more of a bluish cast to the flowers.  The species seems easy enough to grow when given cool temperatures and high light.  In this case the plant is 10 cm tall and the individual flowers between 3 and 4 cm and usually produced in pairs at the top of the pseudobulb and between the narrow channeled leaves.  Like all the Oxyglossum Dendrobiums the flowers are very long-lasting.







Tuesday, August 2, 2016

Acianthera bragae


Acianthera bragae, also known as Pleurothallis sarracenia (sarracenia = slug), is a tiny species with deeply channeled terete (pencil-like) leaves.  The leaves are 3 cm long and grow in a row on a creeping stem.  The 2 cm flowers usually come in pairs with the flowers facing each other, but occasionally as one.  The species is from Brazil.  I grow it mounted giving it cool temperatures, high humidity and good light.