Sievekingia butcheri

[isurus79]

This little plant is a close relative of the Stanhopeas as you can see by its pendulous habit. On this guy's first bloom ever, it threw 3 spikes!! Not too shabby. The scent is exactly like fresh pine needles (which is pleasant and totally unexpected!) and the flowers are pretty short lived (ie. a few days), though I've noticed that many Stanhopinae plants have more pronouncedly short lived blooms on their first try than normal. Another unexpected little tidbit about these flowers is that instead of slowly fading and turning brown as they get past their prime, the flowers actually just close themselves to look just like they did as developing buds (see last picture, below). Then, they just fall off! No undignified aging, just a disappearing act! Enjoy!