February 2024

From Kurt Shanebeck:

Outdoors coastal, north of Los Angeles:

Gomesa recurva

Found as an epiphyte or terrestrial from the mountains of Brazil. Growing potted with moderately bright light.

Masdevallia lehmannii

Epiphyte from Columbia and Ecuador at elevations of 2000-2400m. Growing potted and shady.

Laelia anceps

From the mountains of Mexico and Honduras. Growing mounted. The second photo is a line bred strain growing mounted on a pine tree. I have often heard it said that orchids don’t like pine trees because of their resinous nature, but since it was the only tree in my yard otherwise capable of hosting an orchid I thought I would give it a try. It has done very well and doesn’t seem to be bothered in the least and displaying vigorous root growth along the rough bark

Maxillaria picta

From Brazil and Argentina. Growing potted with moderately bright light. Always a reliable bloomer

From Arnold Markman:
Intermediate Greenhouse, coastal San Diego area:
Coelogyne lawrenciana Misted daily and watered every 2-3 days. It was in a hanging basket but go so heavy and lopsided that I put the basket in a clay pot.
Dracula chimera Wet daily water
Dracula roezlii Daily water. It is also very close to my floor fan and it gets a lot of air movement.	Dracula vampira Daily water
Maxillaria coccinea Mounted. Watered every day or at least every other day.
Odontoglossum pulchellum Mounted, watered daily

Pleurothallis medinae

Pleurothallis palliolata I water it every day.
Pleurothallis truncata Mounted on slab ( in front of Eria in hanging basket). Watered daily

Scaphosepalum decorum Mounted. Watered daily
Stelis dalstroemii The plant has over 10 inflorescences and each one carries about 100 tiny-about 1-2mm —-size flowers. I water it daily.

Trisetella klingerii A cute little beauty. Watered daily

From Scott McGregor:

All orchids grown outdoors, coastal southern California

Cattleya cernua

A bit of rain damage, but still cheerful!

Epidedrum marmoratum

An odd Epidendrum with very long lasting, but alas not fragrant, flowers.

Isabelia violacea

A genus of three mini species, all worth growing. I. violacea has the largest flowers, but they only last a few days. Grows best mounted and bright.

Isochilus aurantiacus

More shy-flowering than other Isochilus species, but makes up for it with bright orange-red flowers. Likes to grow bright and moist-- mine grows mounted with a chunk of sphagnum so it doesn’t dry out too quickly.

Laelia anceps v. lineata

Laelia anceps, with color feathering in the petals in variety lineata.

From Roberta Fox: Coastal southern California
Outside in the Back Yard:
Bulbophyllum acutebracteatum Very tiny (two millimeters or so) flowers but lots of them. This is a rambler, not attaching very much to the mount. From Compendium of Miniature Orchid Species (Parsons and Gerritsen), it grows in much of tropical west and central Africa, in lowland forests. This would imply that it should grow warm/intermediate, but it does fine on my patio so clearly can grow much cooler.


Cleisocentron gokusingii From Borneo. Compare with Cleisocentron merrillianum (which I showed you last month) this species has much shorter, semi-terete leaves. The flowers look very similar, truly blue. This can bloom several times of year. The blue is much more saturated in winter bloomings, tending to be more blue-gray in summer. So not only does it tolorate cool weather, it likes it!
Dendrochilum cobbianum Native to the Philippines, elevation 1400-2400 m . The graceful inflorescences are reminiscent of strings of pearls.
Dinema polybulbon This prolific Epidendum relative is native to southern Mexico, through much of Central America. It tends to ramble, I am trying to "train" the new growths so that they will eventually form a ball.
Eulophia macra Native to Madagascar at elevations from sea level to 1500 m. so tolerant of both heat and cold. The hard, leathery leaves indicate that it is very drought-tolerant, but doesn't need to dry out in winter. As the inflorescences develop, the buds are brown and scrawny, and look rather dead. From a distance it isn't particulaly impressive, but get in close to the flowers and you can see that they are intricate and beautiful.

Laelia anceps Getting toward the end of the season, these are among the late bloomers. Above is a semi-alba or albescent form, with white flowers but red lines in the throat. To the righ is the veitchna (coerulea) form.

Lycaste virginalis (skinneri) Depending on the cultivar, flowers range from white to soft pink. This species is in the background of all the big, round Lycaste hybrids. It seems to have really liked last winter's rain and cool spring/summer.- this is the best bloomng that I have had in many years. Behind these open flowers are 4 more buds, so the show will continue for awhile. The species is native to southern Mexico and northern Central America, elevation 1500-2100 m.
Mediocalcar decoratum Native to New Gunea, elevation 900-2500 m. The plant grows more ON than in a wood basket with some sphagnum, most of the shallow roots are in the air. I do love this ball of little candy-corn colored flowers.


Oncidium endocharis Native to southern Mexico, through Central America, to Colombia, elevation 1350-2200 m. Flowers are about 3/4 inch, with lovely color contrast.
Oncidium sotoanum Navive to soutern Mexico and northern Central America, elevations to 1500 m. These plants have been labeled "Onc. ornithorhynchum" in people's collections for most of the last 200 years. However, relatively recently it was determined that the name belonged to a species with yellow flowers from Andean South America. Hence the new name.	Scaphosepalum swertifolium ssp. exiguum Don't cut spikes, they can rebloom for several years! Intricate flowers are only about 3/8 inch, but they bloom in profusion. Native to Ecuador, elevation to 2200 m.
Pleurothallis dilemma Native to Ecuador, elevations 1800-2000 m. The leaves look to me very much like green beans, with two little horns. Orchid grower extraordinaire Cynthia Hill explains the inspiration for the name - those are the "horns of a dilemma". Flowers are produced sequentially from the same growth for many months.
Pleurothallis radula Native to Costa Rica, elevation 1500-1900 m. Flowers are produced repeatedly from the inflorescence that holds them well above the leaf, sometimes in pairs.
Restrepia antennifera 'Cow Hollow' The flower on this one is very large for the genus. Native to Colombia, Venezuela and Ecuador, elevation 2000-3500 m.
Restrepia jesupiana A bit of sunshine. Native to Venezuela, 2300-2800 m

Cattleya (Sophronitis) wittigiana Native to Brazil. The photo on the right was taken in bright sunlight, and the flower glistens like diamond dust. The image doesn't really do it justice, the sparkles are a challenge to photograph.
Trichosalpinx sp. (Peru) No species ID on this one. It flowers repeatedly from the same inflorescence - you can see the bracts where the old flowers were. The flowers hide under the leaves which are dark green on top and purple underneath. One has to be sure to look under the leaves frequently, to se the little blooms.


Trisetella hoeijeri Flowers remind me of little birds. They seem to float, on the hairlike inflorescence. Native to Ecuador at about 1800 m.
Trisetella triglochin I saw this along the Rio Negro in Brazil in the Amazonian tropics but it also grows on both sides of the Andes. This one grows on my patio, clearly having no problem with the winter cold.
Maxillaria lehmannii Native to Ecuador. Flowers are about 2.5 inches across, with heavy, waxy substance.	Epigeneium triflorum var. orientale Blooms 2 or 3 times a year. Growth habit is mostly into the air, like other Epigeneiums. Native to Java, elevation 1000-1700 m. The genus has been lumped into Dendrobium... for now.
In the greenhouse...
Ancistrochilus rothschildianus From equatorial west Africa. The pseudobulbs are shaped a bit like Hershey's Kisses. They're deciduous once the spike develops. It benefits from being somewhat drier in winter, but still needs light watering.