Orchid of the day: Cychnoches warscewiczii

Cychnoches warscewiczii

I first posted about this orchid two years ago, December 3, 2017. I call this our upside down (non-resupinate) orchid. This orchid is a native of Columbia, which loves lots of water and sun during its growing season. The huge pseudobulbs mature in mid fall and produced two flowers. As before, these are the male flowers which are rather large, up to 5 inches (12.5- 13 cm). The other well-known genus that also produce both male and female flowers is Catasetum.

A) You can see two older pseudobulbs in this pot. They produced flowers in the previous year.

B) Our upside down male flowers. If you are not familiar with orchids, you can easily assume this is NOT an orchid.

C) From the back, the lovely bright apple green color of the petals.

D) The entire orchid enjoying a brief outdoor moment before final indoor 'storage' for the Baltimore winter.

E) Amazing looking flower...I can't get over this special orchid. Apparently, according to experts, a female flower can develop once the plant grows very big and older. I can't wait to see that!

Okay, until my next post, I hope you found our Cychnoches warscewiczii as fascinating as I do!

Orchid of the day: Cattleya Scarlet Imp

Cattleya Scarlet Imp

Cattleya Scarlet Imp is probably better recognized as a Sophronitis hybrid as both its parents, S. cernua and S. brevipedunculata, only recently were transferred to the genus Cattleya.  We purchased this orchid recently in 2018 and this is the first bloom. These flowers have perfectly ideal Cattleya shape.

A) The flowers close up in sunlight in late October.

This is truly a miniature orchid resembling mainly the creeping growth habit of S. cernua while the much larger flowers is a trait from S. brevipedunculata. The flower is larger than each vegetative growth and almost 2 inches (5 cm) wide. 

B) The flowers were opened but were still in the process of flattening out.

C) In a different light.

D) Secured in our basement under indoor lights since the weather had cooled down significantly in November.

Until the next post, I hope you love seeing these blooms from my blog today!