This amazing creation has been well worth waiting for… I have been watching the scary looking buds swell for weeks now and finally the amazing, fleshy and brutal creations have opened! It is something straight out of an H.R. Giger painting …or perhaps Little Shop of Horrors – and I love it!! I knew what the flowers were supposed to look like when I bought it from Ecuagenera last spring, but it is something else to experience them first hand. The name cerastes is Latin for “a horned snake”, and it is not hard to see the inspiration for the name in these flowers.
Masdevallia cerastes, or Megema cerastes as Luer would have it, is a rare species only found on the southern slopes of the Putumayo region in Colombia. It is cool to cold growing epiphyte found at elevations of 2200-2600 meters on the slopes of the Andes. It is a rather large plant in my collection, the leathery leaves stand 30 cm tall keeping the flowers on a short inflorescences hidden within the leaves. The flowers measure about 2,3 cm wide and the sepals are partially connected forming a rigid cup and the thick petals are rough and twisted. Characteristics found in all species of the Megema genus. All Megema species have been separated from the Masdevallia subspecies Cucullatia with one exception, M. macrura of Masdevallia section Coriaceae.
I grow it potted in a mesh pot with EpiWeb substrate in the cool vivarium, low light and high humidity and temperatures of 18-20 (day) and 10-12 (night).
Love this bizarre plant!!Ihave been following your blog for almost a year and this time I can not hold back a comment.I am windowsill grower(also certifiable but on tight budget)I have seventeen plants, I grow with a small humidifier and fans.Do you think this plant could be grown and bloomed that way??I have two masdevallias copper angel and vargasaii hybrids I get the dinural temp by placing small icepack next to them every night…annoying but does the trick.Would love to have vivarium some day…
Dillon
Thank you very much Dillon! Always nice to hear that you enjoy the blog. 🙂 Wonderful that you manage to grow Masdevallia on the windowsill. It can be done, I have done it, but it takes some ingenuity. I don’t think I would recommend this particular Masdevallia for you though as it is a cool to cold grower and it would be a lot more demanding about the temperatures than many, many other Masdevallia. It is a huge genus and there are many other beautiful species that you can succeed with. Look for species that grow at a bit lower elevation, they will in general be more tolerate with warmer temperatures. Also, even though it is a bit of a generalization, hybrids do tend to be easier to coax to bloom in spaces less than ideal. Good luck!!
I love the icepack idea!!! I should try, see if it works.
beauty and beast at the same time…
Absolutely, thanks!! 🙂
loved the tittle, I 100% agree !
I know, ha ha!! Thanks! 🙂
Wow! I thought I was the only “windowsill” grower of Cool growers! It’s nice to see others growing Orchids on windowsills ….I am always looking for new ingenious ideas on how to keep temps cool for my Masdedvallia that I grow on windowsills ……
Thanks Patrick! But just about all of my Masdevallia (save for a handful hybrids) – including this one and ALL my cool/cold growers I grow in a very well equipped cool vivarium. I would not attempt to grow this one on the windowsill… You can check the build under the “cool vivarium build” category. 🙂