Luzama amaluzae

Recently in bloom, this small species is also found under the name Masdevallia amaluzae.  Both plant and flowers are 3 cm, but the flowers are held well away from the plant on 6-8 cm spikes.  It seems to do best mounted and blooms reliably every spring.  I grow it with my other cool-temperature species.

Dendrobium vexillarius

This is a first bloom seedling, blooming on a very small plant.  Both plant size and flower color are extremely variable with this species.  I am very pleased with the flower color which can be red, orange, yellow, white, green, blue, grey, violet, purple or pink.  The flowers are a little less than 2.5 cm.  I am eager to see if how large the plant grows since this species can range from 3-40 cm.  If it stays small it is probably var. elworthyi.  It is from the highlands of New Guinea, the Moluccas and New Ireland, is cool-growing and belongs to the Oxyglossum section of the genus Dendrobium.

Dendrobium seranicum

I have two plants of this species, one plant awarded, the flowers of which are not quite as brightly colored as this.  It is a spring bloomer and blooms well on a rather attractive plant.  The individual growths are 8 cm and the flowers 3 cm.  The species is from the highlands of Papua New Guinea and belongs to the Oxyglossum group of Dendrobiums.

The other plant has flowers that are a slightly paler pink and the lip does not have the bright red tip.  Both, however, fall within the range of variation for this species.  The photo below shows the flowers of the other plant, Dendrobium seranicum 'Brendan' CBR/AOS.

Angraecum urschianum

Angraecum urschianum is a tiny species from Madagascar.  The plant is only a couple of centimeters tall with flowers that are as large as the plant and a flower spur or nectary that is huge for the size of the flower, nearly 15 cm in length.  The flowers are probably pollinated by a night-flying moth with a tongue long enough to reach the nectar in the bottom of the spur.  My plant is a seedling blooming for the second time.

Porroglossum dreisei

The last post was of a Porroglossum.  Here is another, this time Porroglossum dreisei from Ecuador and another small species.  The plant is 4 cm, the flower spikes 12 cm and the flowers 1.5 cm and blooming successively, several to a spike.  Like the other Porroglossum species this has a moveable lip that snaps up and traps an insect against the column effecting pollination and I've included pictures of the flowers with the lip both open and shot.  I thought about titling the post "Arms Akimbo" since the flowers look like a little man with an elf hat and his hands on his hips.

Porroglossum tripollex

Porroglossum tripollex belongs to a genus of plants closely related to Masdevallia, but all having a moveable, insect-trapping lip.  They are usually small plants with rather long flower spikes that hold the small flowers well away from the plant.  When the lip is disturbed it eventually snaps up against the column of the flower trapping some tiny insect against the column and effecting pollination.  This species is from Ecuador, is 3 cm tall and has 1.5 cm flowers on 6-8 cm flower spikes.  The first three of the following photos show the flower with the lip "unsprung."  The last two photos shows the flower with the lip "sprung."