Calanthe Brevicornu in flower

[RosieC]

Not sure quite where this one fits with other orchids. It's a hardy terrestrial that my Cyp vendor talked me into buying (he didn't have to try hard ) last year. I don't know much about it except the care tips I can remember from what he told me (keep damp and high fertiliser including over the winter), keep it in the cool greenhouse.

It has new growths each spring, but the previous years leaves don't fully die back until the new growths have got well established. This had 7 new growths this year, 2 of which flowered. The growths are a mass of leaves all coming up from the base and standing tall, to just below where the flowers start (or a little higher). The older leaves have all dropped lower and sag over the side of the pot.

It has 28 flowers on the two spikes. The first pictures were taken when just one flower had started to open. the later ones were taken when the spikes were fully open. The last picture shows the whole plant taken before the flowers had opened to give an idea how it looks. The leaves are bigger now though.

The flowers have been open a month now, not sure how long they last. They have got paler with age, but no sign of then dropping.