Leaves like catasetum, flower like nothing else I've seen

[wjbrown]

This is from Minas Gerais, Brazil. The blooms are borne from buds that emerge from the root mass, hanging downward. They are scented, esp. at night. Last about a week each bloom. There seems to be a sort of corraling effect formed by the lower parts of each flower, about the same diameter as my index finger. There is what seems to be a pollen sack on the lowermost point of the outer protrusion, loosely attached. This is the first time I've seen anything similar; was told it's rare.

[kavanaru]

easy... that's a gorgeous Stanhopea... check these HP:

Stanhopea Wikipedia
Stanhopea

[FinnBar]

Gorgeous! you're lucky to be able to spot one in the wild.
thanks for posting the photo!

[Frdemetr]

Congrats! Brazilian, blooming these days and with this color = Stanhopea lietzei (you can see a Stan lietzei clone that seems close to yours in my gallery)
To make a correct diagnosis I need a pic showing the side of the flower, to se the lip structure called hypochil, that is very characteristic in this species.
Bad news: each flower lasts only a few days, so you must take the pics soon!!

[wjbrown]

Yes, that's it, you guys! Frdemetr, yours are just gorgeous, and you've gotten great pictures of it. Maybe the 2008 calendar?

I can't send a better picture because I've already waited too long, but the hypochil is just like those on your photos.

Is yours in bloom now? Does this species bloom every year at the same time?

You have yours in a basket, right? Is it outdoors? How often do you water it?

Why does it bloom through the bottom side that way? Do you have an idea what the pollinator is like?

FinnBar - This one is in the wilds of my friend's back yard, hanging from a tree. Orchids in the wild are pretty rare, even here.

[Frdemetr]

wjbrown,

Stan lietzei is quite variable in color, some of mine clones are in spike now, others no; they need a clear dry resting period in the winter to bloom in the end of spring and in beginning of summer (this year I guess I won't see many blooms of lietzei, due the humidity in the winter...). I use wooden baskets, filled with non-compacted media (remember: the spikes grow direct downwards through the media, a distinctive characteristic of all 60 Stanhopea genera). Stans love tree fern fiber (xaxim), but you know...it's forbbiden now; to save xaxim I use it only in the bottom, sides and top of the basket, and filled with a 'mix' of coconut chips, pine bark, pine cone and carcoal. Wooden baskets dry very fast, and in the growing season you need to water very often (don't forget about the resting period!). I use 'bokashi' and "Viagra" (from AOSP) in the media and Peter's ini the leaves, very weak solution, almost every week (1g/2L). Pollinator of lietzei is unknow, but for sure is a Euglossinea bee (Euglossa and/or Eulaema genera), as in all others Stanhopeas (little metallic-green bees)

PS: take a look at The Stanhopea Pages by Nina Rach, edited October 2007 , the best Stanhopea web site in the web!

[wjbrown]

Thanks, Frederico. It's a very unusual genus, but beautiful.
Boas festas!

[Undergrounder]

Frdemetr do all Stans require a winter rest? Stanhopea embreei and tigrina (sp?) and nigroviolacea in particular?

[Frdemetr]

Wjbrown, Feliz Natal! Merry Christmas!

Undergrounder, according to Dr Jenny, Stan embreei comes from western slopes of Ecuador Andean region, and grows without dry resting period, weather is hot and humidy all over the year (mine didn't bloomed yet). Stans tigrina and tigrina var. nigroviolacea for sure don't need dry resting period, mines grow and bloom without difficulties outside (but I'm in a tropical region!; curiously, if I grow lietzei - a native Stan! - outside, without care to cover with plastic in the winter, lietzei doesn't bloom, and tigrinas - mexicans! - bloom easily!

Merry Christmas!!

[wjbrown]

Frederico -Do you cover your lietzei with plastic so the rain doesn't water it? Or to keep it humid? Does it rain during the winter in Sampa? Here it goes for four months without rain (usually) and my friend does nothing special, and her S. lietzei blooms. So it gets a dry season naturally.