Acronia stricta

Acronia stricta, formerly Pleurothallis stricta is from Colombia and Ecuador and is a cool-growing miniature orchid.  The plant is about 15 cm tall, around 22 cm with the flower spikes.  The individual flowers are very nearly 2 cm tall.

The plan seems to have no regular bloom season but blooms on each new growth and does so from the axil of the leaf and stem on upright, wiry spikes that carry about 10 flowers.  It is easy to grow and bloom, a good plant for beginners who are interested in this sort of thing.

Neocogniauxia monophylla

This exquisite species is from Jamaica. It belongs to a genus that includes only one other species. The plant is about 12 cm tall with inflorescences about 9 cm that carry a single 4 cm tall flower. The plant likes cool temperatures, good air movement and high humidity.

Interestingly, this genus has recently been moved from the Cattleya alliance to the Pleurothallid alliance, a move I and others find difficult to accept, though I believe the change was made on the basis of DNA analysis. Perhaps in switching it a more pronounceable name could have been given it.

Specklinia montezumae

This plant has recently been reclassified as part of a reworking of the massive genus, Pleurothallis.  While I agree that the genus Pleurothallis, to which it originally belonged, was far too large and included too many dissimilar plants, I have trouble remembering all the new names.  By any name, however, this is a lovely little plant.

This orchid is native to Costa Rica and is tolerant of a wide range of temperatures.  The plant is 12 cm tall and the flowers which hide down at the base of the leaves are a little over 1 cm long.  The plant seems to bloom several times a year for me.  I have it growing in a specially thrown clay pot with extra drainage and in live sphagnum moss.

Lepanthes ophioglossa

Lepanthes ophioglossa is a miniature orchid from Ecuador.  The plant grows to about 4 cm tall and the flowers are over 1 cm in size, very large proportionally.  The species name, ophioglossa, means "snake tongue" and refers to the forked appearance of the bottom of the flower.

Condylago rodrigoi

This species is from Colombia and was first described as Stelis rodrigoi.  The flowers, as can be seen from the photos, are very unusual.  They are only about 1 cm tall, but each spike produces a succession of them, so that the plant is seldom without flowers.  The plant itself looks like a Pleurothallis and is around 8 cm tall.  The flower spikes are unusual in that they are flattened at the ends

Restrepia cuprea

This lovely orchid is from Colombia and is typical of the genus both in plant habit and in form and colorfulness of its flowers.  The growths are approximately 15 cm long with a 6 cm heart-shaped leaf on a stem that is wrapped in flattened bracts.  The flowers appear out of the topmost bracts from the joint of leaf and stem and each growth flowers successively over a long period of time. They are close to 6 cm tall.

The flowers are the typical Restrepia shape with a narrow dorsal (upper) sepal and very thin, spidery petals.  The most prominent parts of the flower are the joined lateral (lower sepals which are a bright coppery orange, to which the name cuprea refers.  The flower, head on, looks like the face of little gnome with the dorsal sepal looking like a tall hat, the column a long nose, the petals two long eyebrows,the lip a long beard and the spots at the top of the lateral sepals two eyes.

Interestingly, Restrepia is on of the few orchids that can be grown from leaf cuttings.  Indeed, new plants will sometimes spontaneously begin to grow at that point on the mother plant.  If the leaf with a bit of stem is placed in moss or something similar a new plant with eventually start from the juncture of leaf and stem.  They seem to do best for me in small pots and are not at all difficult to grow.

Epigeneium nakaharaei

Related to Dendrobium, this wonderful little plant is easy to grow, easy to flower and very floriferous with amazing translucent yellow flowers and a shiny brown lip.  The flowers are very large, too, for the size of the plant, approximately 2.5 cm tall and 3 cm wide.  The plant has a rather curious growth habit, each new growth beginning near the junction of pseudobulb and leaf of the previous growth, so that the plant has a creeping habit.  For that reason, it is best grown mounted, but even then tends to wander off the mount.  Each growth is about 6 cm long, the flowers arising at the juncture of pseudobulb and leaf.  The plant is native to Taiwan.