Euchile (Encyclia) citrina

[gnathaniel]

Second time blooming for me, the plant grew well last year and gave me a nice double-flowered spike this time. Flowers are intensely fragrant in the warmth of the day. Thanks for looking!

--Nat

[Bud]

That is all things bright and beautiful with fragrance to add to its allure.
I think Ron H posted a half opened flower....and its the tulip of orchids he says....
This is on my wish list....I love that the ratio of the flower is proportionate to the plant....and those round bulbs like ping-pong balls

[gnathaniel]

Thanks Bud! It's definitely a charming plant, particularly with the fragrance wafting around.

I'm not sure if the flower Ron photographed is only half-open, the flowers of this species tend to stay fairly closed at apex blooming and depending on the viewing angle it can be hard to see the flower's interior. Then again it may be newly-opened, hard to say...

--Nat

[RosieC]

Gorgeous!

[Jennyfleur]

Stunning I love the natural growth as well

[smweaver]

Great blooming, Nat. The darker midline on the labellum is especially attractive.

[Gage]

Absolutely gorgeous! The color, texture and opacity of the bloom is stunning. On my list!

[gnathaniel]

Thanks everyone!

Gage, be careful if you ever try this one, I've heard anecdotes of people growing it okay for a while in Florida but it's supposed to be hard to maintain there long-term. Many consider it a cool grower (mine was outside most of this winter and got temps in the low 30s many nights) but it will also tolerate pretty hot weather. I suspect that high humidity along with high temps is a problem for it; the vegetation is very glaucous (waxy), which is a xeric-tolerance characteristic but may also prevent it from transpiring effectively when humidity is high. Bakers' culture sheet indicates likely extreme high of 97 F in-situ but RH topping out at 75% and lower for most of the year...

--Nat

[Gage]

Thanks for the advice! I'll have to ask the local Encyclia experts if they have had success, and if so how they grow theirs.

[gnathaniel]

Good idea, and if someone's been successful with one and is willing to part with a division that might be your best bet, certain individuals may have better heat/humidity tolerance than others esp. depending on where they or their ancestors were originally collected. Or if you could find a flask or compot they might do some self-culling and leave you with the most FL-tolerant ones, in-vitro orchid propagation probably already selects for humid-tolerant individuals.

--Nat