Sophronitis acuensis

Sophronitis acuensis is from Brazil, as are all the species in the genus Sophronitis.  It has recently beeen reclassified as Cattleya acuensis, but by any name is colorful and desirable.  Its flowers are slightly smaller than the better known Sophronitis coccinea and the plant is much smaller, the individual growths only 4 cm tall, smaller than the 5 cm flowers.  My plant is mounted on a piece of cedar shingle and receives very high light.  Like the other Sophronitis species it prefers cooler temperatures.

Masdevallia lucernula

Masdevallia lucernula is from Peru and belongs to the Masdevallia section of the genus.  It has the  bright colors of many of the flowers in that section but the flowers do not open as widely as others in the section.  This example of the species actually opens more widely than others which are almost closed at the end of the tube.  The species name, lucernula, means "little lamp" and rather aptly describes these charming flowers.

Porroglossum dreisei

This is another species from Ecuador and a strange species indeed.  The Porroglossums are all oddities because of their moveable, insect-trapping lip, which when disturbed snaps up.  Several of the photos show flowers with the lips both open and closed.  Porroglossum dreisei is even odder than the other species in the genus with its clown-shaped blooms.  They are large as Porroglossums go, 1.5 cm on long flower spikes that produce a succession of flowers on 4 cm plants.

Dendrobium violaceum

Dendrobium violaceum is from the wonderful Oxyglossum section of the genus and from New Guinea, the home of most of the species in that section.  The Oxyglossum Dendrobiums are notable for their small size and their colorful and long-lived flowers.  It is not uncommon that the flowers of these plants last for six months.  Many or the related species are tiny plants, but this not.  I can grow as tall as 45 cm, though this plant is only 20 cm.  The flowers are 3 cm.

Trisetella triglochin

Trisetella triglochin, also found under the name Trisetella huebneri, is found both in southern Central America and northern South America.  It is extremely variable in flower shape and color.  This plant is only 3 cm tall with flowers that are also 3 cm in size and are produced on very thin 5 cm spikes that produce several flowers in succession.  I am not certain, however, that is correctly identified, since most of the Trisetellas I've purchased have had the wrong name.

Masdevallia rex

Masdevallia rex is from Ecuador and belongs to the section Saltatrices, a group of Masdevallias with tubular, hair-lined flowers and a bulge at the base of the flower tube.  It has some of the largest flowers in the section, from whence it gets its name, rex, i.e., the King.  On my plant the flowers are 14 cm from top to bottom and are produced on a plant that is only 10 cm.