Masdevallia noraeThis little Masdevallia can be found in Colombia, Venezuela and possibly north-west Brazil at altitudes between 200 and 800 meters. I grow mine on the windowsill, medium light, intermediate temps and planted in sphagnum moss. I bought it from Orchids & More last summer and it is now blooming for the first time. The flowers are small (approximately 2 cm) and delicate and the plant itself is small to medium size. I really like the color of the flowers. I think they look almost as if they were made out of metal.

Masdevallia norae was first described by Luer in 1988. Carlyle August Luer is a world renowned pleurothallid expert from the USA. He has described more than 1,500 new orchid species and 12 new genera. But Masdevallia norae actually got her name after another very famous orchid collector… Ellinor (“Nora”) Freeman Dunsterville (1904-2004). She collected more than 1,055 species and wrote countless articles together with her husband “Stalky”. Their accounts inspired a whole generation of orchid growers, and several species were named after them, including this little Masdevallia.

I bet you did not know that it actually was the Dunsterville’s extensive expeditions in Venezuela – and subsequently orchids – that inspired Arthur Conan Doyle to write The Lost World…