I bought this plant last November. But what I had originally ordered as Masdevallia decumana, a lovely little epiphyte from Peru and Ecuador, actually turned out to be Masdevallia vexillifera, a quite rare species from Peru. I noticed already before the bud opened up that it was much too light to be a decumana, but I thought it might be the pallida color form which is much lighter. But once the flower opened up, the lower sepals begun to pull back, the flower took on a rather different shape than that of a decumana. Finally I got the real name from a friend who saw the photo on Flickr (thanks for the ID Hachadourian).
This is actually a case where I am quite pleased about the mixup. Masdevallia decumana is not hard to find, in fact I just picked up a new plant this weekend, but I have never seen Masdevallia vexillifera offered for sale. I bought it from the “Peru” import list from Orchids and More, which means that the plant most likely came from Peruflora. But I spoke to my friend Manolo from Peruflora at the orchid show this weekend, and he said that he had never seen the species before. Kew has this down as a Peruvian species and he said that one of their goals is to cultivate all Peruvian native species in their nurseries. I promised to try and pollinate the plant and send him a seedpod for this purpose as soon as I can. Quite an exciting little story for this plant, and I adore it.
what a mistake to make!!!! I wish someone had mistaken like that when I buy my next orchid 🙂 Beautiful plant!
I know!! I wish all mixups were this good! I love this Masdevallia! 🙂
Great score Karma! You know, I never thought of myself as a Masdevallia girl, but this one has me eyeing the species again. For some reason, the color reminds me of the Aurora Borealis. Yet again, beautiful pics, K!
Mmm Aurora Borealis, that is quite a compliment. I can see what you mean, and I feel it too. This one really is special! …and that comes from someone who definitely is a Masdevallia girl. 😉
Wow, a very welcome mistake. I really like this species and now I will always think about auroras when I see it. One more for my wish list.
Thanks! Seeing how many people love this species, I hope we can get productions up in cultivation so more can grow it. 🙂
Hi, I’ve been hearing about Peruflora quite a bit, but I cannot find their website. Do you happen to know what it is?
Thank you.
Sorry Philip, but Peruflora does not have a website. You can contact them via email: contact@peruflora.net They also do email lists with the plants they offer for sale. Here is the latest list I received from them: Peruflora plant list 2010 (.pdf ) or (.xls).