Masdevallia black spot on petal

[kbujold]

My Masdevallia has a some black spot on the tip of the top petal (see attached pic). I am new to Masdevallia. Does someone know what this means? Too much water?

[bellini girl]

to OB. do you know how long the blooms have been open? Could be the blooms are beginning to wilt. Or, having water on the blooms can sometimes cause this.

Looks like a Masd Tovarensis to me. Others will chime in for sure to help with ID

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

This orchid is Masdevallia coccinea. It is the alba variant.

How can I tell?

The lateral sepals are the tell all.

Where are the lateral sepals on your Masdevallia?

They're the two largest floral segments on the bottom of the flowers.

In Masdevallia coccinea the lateral sepals are clearly separated from each other - they don't look fused.

Here're some pics of the different Masdevallia coccinea color variants:

Masdevallia coccinea

In Masdevallia tovarensis the lateral sepals are fused.

Here's a pic of the true Masdevallia tovarensis:

http://subirimagen.infojardin.com/su...295804099l.JPG

I highly recommend looking at the photos side-by-side to really get the feel for the differences between the 2 species.

The other differences between Masdevallia coccinea and Masdevallia tovarensis are location and how the plant grows.

Masdevallia coccinea comes from high mountain areas, (roughly around 2,400 m - 3,000 m elevation), around Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. It also grows as a lithophyte/terrestrial. When I say "terrestrial" I mean the roots do not actually penetrate into dirt, they are growing on granitic rocks with some dirt around.

This pic doesn't really show that the roots are actually growing on rocks clearly, but they are growing in the wild:

http://www.orchidspecies.com/colombia/masdcocc.jpg

Masdevallia tovarensis is currently known to only come from Venezuela and is reported to be an epiphyte growing in lower elevations, (around 1,600 m - 2,400 m). I unfortunately cannot find any links that verifies that it is an epiphyte, but I guess we'll just have to give this account the benefit of the doubt until evidence says otherwise.

Both orchids are classified differently as well, (according to Jay Pfahl's IOSPE site).

Masdevallia coccinea is grouped in Subgenus Masdevallia, Section Masdevallia, Subsection Coccinea.

Masdevallia tovarensis is grouped in Subgenus Polyantha, Section Alaticaules, Subsection Alaticaules.

If the flower has been in bloom for about 1 week, it's most likely done blooming and is starting to wilt.

Masdevallia coccinea is a cool - intermediate growing orchid. It can tolerate a tiny amount of heat for brief periods, but will suffer big time if they are left in really warm weather over long periods of time. I really wouldn't let it get warmer than 85 F at any given point in the year. The temperatures can get as low as 36 F without a problem though, (36 F is the lowest I'd go, btw).

Grow under indirect bright light.

Provide some 1/4 - 1/2 strength fertilizer regimen, and you're golden.

It'd also be helpful to also post a pic of the entire plant to see if anything else is wrong.

[kbujold]

Thanks for the welcome ;-)

The flowers have been there for maybe 3-4 weeks, I purchased it in bloom. Here is a picture of the full orchid.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

It's beautiful.

Nothing wrong with that I can notice.

I think the flower's just on its way out.

It blooms sequentially though, so don't remove the spikes until they turn brown.

[RosieC]

Really lovely. I agree with Philip, I can't see anything wrong with it.

[kbujold]

Ok thank you ;-)
It's a Masdevallia coccinea BTW.