Porroglossum is a genus of miniature orchids all of which have spring-loaded moveable, insect-trapping lips. When the flower is disturbed by a visiting insect, the lip springs up trapping the insect against the column and hopefully effecting pollination. The genus is related to Masdevallia and includes about 50 species.
In these photos the flowers all have their insect-trapping lips in the open position, except for the flower in the last photo. The plant is difficult to photograph with the lips open because the slightest disturbance cause the lips to snap shot. The flowers are 1.5 cm on 6-8 flower spikes on a 3 cm plant.
This small plant is Porroglossum tripollex from Ecuador. I have two of these, one with brown "tails" and this with yellow. The flower looks to me like a bird's beak, but tripollex means "three thumbs," a resemblance I do not see. It is cool to cold growing and comes from montane forests.
A pretty orchid and quite useful Ron.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Thel!
DeleteJust stumbled across your blog. You grow your orchids to perfection. How do you cool your growing case?
ReplyDeleteThanks for visiting. This is in a basement room and the only temperature control is the window. The temperatures range from 50-65 in the winter and from 60-75 in the summer.
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