Thursday, August 4, 2011

Mystacidium capense

Mystacidium capense is a small orchid related to Angraecum and Aerangis and comes from the same general area, in this case from South Africa.  The plant is 8-10 cm across and the flowers are 2 cm tall, but have a very long, 6 cm spur on the back of the lip which is nearly transparent and in which one can see the nectar that attracts the pollinators, almost surely a night-flying moth of some kind.  The flowers have a crystalline texture that is visible in the photos and are sweetly fragrant as well.  The plant is best grown mounted to accommodate the pendant flower spikes and prefer warm temperatures, though I grown it cool to intermediate.


2 comments:

  1. Nice flower...The most I like is the arrangement of the flowers...so nice. Thanks for sharing this amazing orchid ;)

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  2. Thank you friend. It actually should have a few more flowers, but I'll have to see if I can bloom it a bit better next time.

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