Masdevallia hartmanii

Masdevallia hartmanii is from Ecuador.  It is a tiny species, only 5-6 cm tall with flowers that are 3 cm, including the "tails".  I grow it mounted and cool with high humidity.  It is named after its Ecuadorian discoverer.

Spilotantha chaetostoma

This small Masdevallia is from Ecuador.  It has been reclassified and placed in a new genus, but is still usually found under its old name.  The flowers are tiny, only 1.5 cm but there are four to five flowers per spike and when the plant is in bloom it looks like it has a cloud of little white insects hovering over it.  The spikes are 15 cm and the plant 6 cm.

Porroglossum rodrigoi

Tiny but colorful describes this miniature orchid from the Pleurothallid group.  Porroglossum rodrigoi is from Colombia and belongs to the same group of orchids as Masdevallia and Pleurothallis, and is, in fact, closely related to Masdevallia.  All the Porroglossums have a lip that springs up when disturbed by a small insect, trapping the insect temporarily against the column and effecting pollination.  The species has beautifully patterned 3 cm leaves, 9 cm flower spikes that produce a few 1.5 cm flowers in succession.  It requires cool temperatures and does bested for me mounted a piece of cedar shingle.  The photos show the flowers both with the lip open and closed.

Buccella dynastes

Also known as Masdevallia dynastes, this small species is from Ecuador.  The flowers are 2 cm from end to end and the plant 10 cm tall.  It blooms faithfully late winter or spring, but seems to prefer being mounted since the plant tends to grow up out of a pot.  It is said to be temperature tolerant but my plant is grown with other cool-temperature orchids.

Paphiopedilum Awasubihs Faith

This plant actually belongs to my son, but I've been keeping it for him.  It is a hybrid of Paphiopedilum Nightfire and Paphiopedilum Slipknot, the only complex Paphiopedilum hybrid we have in the house.  It has a very tall and strong flower stem and beautiful foliage and blooms well, sometimes with two flowers to a spike.  It is not grown with most of my orchids but on a bathroom windowsill where it does very well.

Porroglossum meridionale

It seems to be Porroglossum season since almost all of mine are in bloom at the moment.  Porroglossum meridionale is another species from this genus of insect-trapping flowers.  The flowers have hinged lips and  when disturbed by a small insect the lip suddenly snaps up trapping the insect against the column, effecting pollination.  Most of the pictures show the lip open but the last two photos show the lip up against the column.  The plant is 6 cm tall, the flower spikes 10 cm in length, and the flowers 1.5 cm.  It comes from Peru.