Beautiful like a jewel: Laelia mixta

[Rosim_in_BR]

Rupicolous Laelias are really like living jewels, so beautiful and colored they are. Laelia mixta is seldom seen in shows or even in collections and yet it has so charming flowers. The plant is small, not much higher than 15cm, the flowers appearing crowded atop the long stem. The most remarkable characteristic are the petals well longer than the sepals. It is native to the State of Bahia, in Brazil. I grow two clones that can be seen side by side in the third photo, being one of them of pure yellow.