This miniature orchid from the Trichoglottis Alliance was first described by Schlechter in 1913. It hails from the hills and lower montane forests of the Greater Sunda Islands where it grows at elevations up to about 1550 meters. The flowers form small clusters on a very short inflorescence and they are small, about 15 mm, but has great detail. I love the “fringe” on the lip, it looks almost like a beard. Check out this amazing drawing of the flower from 1914.
It is a warm growing epiphyte that is loving life in my warm vivarium as it is blooming almost constantly. I grow mine in high humidity (80-90%), at warm temperatures 24 (winter) to 28 degrees (summer) and under medium/high light. At least in these conditions I would say it is very easy to grow and flower. I warmly recommend it. I definitely want more of these little guys in my warm viv.
WOW, Karma! This is a must have in any collection. I’ve recently started taking interest in minis. Just curious where you bought yours? I’ve been looking on the internet, and can’t find it. If i can’t find one online, i will wait til i go to some of the shows in Miami. Wish you could be here to go with me! I can imagine you going home with suitcases of orchids, haha! Have a good week 🙂
Thanks Joan. Yes I think this is a very underestimated genus. I want more of these for sure. A Gchls. japonicus is high on my list, but you cannot go wrong with any of the species in in genus. Simply adorable! I bought mine from Orchids & More in Germany. It was sold as a Gastrochilus calceolaris, but it isn’t – a common mislabelling for this plant though. You should absolutely look into getting some minis in your collection, but I recommend you get a vivarium for them – they will do better, you will not regret it. I would have LOVED to go to the Miami shows… too bad it is so expensive to fly, and then all the CITES hassle to bring plants back… not worth it. We have to wait for U.S. growers to come to the EU for shows, then we can order plants for them to bring along and they will handle all the paperwork. We are not spoiled with big orchid shows here, so thank goodness for the internet.
It is so beautiful! Of course I googled it immediately – and of course, not a chance to find it in the U.S. at this point.
I’m afraid you are not missing much by not attending our Florida shows. I live in South Florida, and all I can say I am always amazed that you grow so many gorgeous plants that are quite inaccessible here. I go to all the shows from October to March, and believe me, all we see here are huge, showy plants selected because of their appeal to people with big gardens and a taste for flashy colorful objects, the bigger the better. So yes, enormous arrogant cattleyas, some vandas, extreme number of phals, some oncidiums, paphs (as long as they are big!), and some dendrobium hybrids of a cute and colorful variety. I like phals and paphs but sometimes I feel if I see one more big purple monster trying to swallow my face I will scream.
Minis are now slowly gaining ground but still, when I wanted some Mini Marks, I had to order them from New York. I have never even seen a dracula in real life (now, when I typed that, this statement sounds really odd 🙂 ). So thank you again for sharing!
Oh I see… that is too bad. Well, maybe if the Florida hobby growers get together and ask the growers to carry more minis? …”big purple monster trying to swallow my face”, ha ha, you made me laugh! 🙂