Orchid of the day: Prosthechea vitellina, formerly Encyclia vitellina

Encyclia vitellina

I posted about this orchid rather frequently because it is a regular bloomer. So far I have at least posted about it on February 12, 2017, January 21, 2018, and November 28, 2018.

This orchid hails from Mexico, Honduras, and Guatemala, where it grows as an epiphyte at high elevations.  High elevations means cold to cool conditions, something most orchid growers cannot offer unless they have an air-conditioned greenhouse.  Unlike most cold growers, Psh vitellina is fortunately rather forgiving when it comes to temperature and can adapt to somewhat warmer than ideal conditions.  What Arne has seen, however, is that warmer temperatures seem to be reflected in the pseudobulbs which grow into an oblong rather than round shape when the temperature is warmer than ideal.  The quality or shape of the flowers is not affected by somewhat elevated growing temperature.

There are a total of twenty one flowers and four buds on one stem. Possible six more flowers on the second flower stem.

A) Our orchid today, October 12th. Still kept outside as the cooler temperature agrees with it.

B) There is another flower stem, see lower left of this photo. There are a few flower buds developing.

C) This photo was taken of the same orchid on August 18th. At this time, we only had a single flower stem.

D) A view from above on August 18th.

E) A closer look at the second flower stem today. We may get six more flowers in a few weeks.

F) Beautiful brightly coloured flowers.

G) I wanted to show the rather large pseudobulbs at the root of this orchid's flower stems.

I hope you found this post interesting. Until my next post, please have a great week everyone.