Orchids | Orchid Flowers: masdevallia ampullacea

Showing posts with label masdevallia ampullacea. Show all posts

November 20, 2012

Masdevallia ampullacea 'Connor'

Here is a small Masdevallia species from Ecuador and another from Saltatrices group. The plant is 5 cm tall and the flowers 3 cm including the tails. It blooms during the winter and is faintly scented. This particular plant was awarded by the American Orchid Society. It is very similar in color and appearance to Masdevallia strobelii (below), but the flower are much smaller than the flowers of that species. It was awarded as Masdevallia aurea, but subsequently identified as Masdevallia ampullacea.

Saltatrices Masdevallias

The Saltatrices group of Masdevallias are especially desirable and attractive, at least to me. They are small plants, the flowers are almost all brightly colored, and most of them are easy to grow and profuse bloomers, if given the right conditions, cool temperatures and good humidity.

They are distinguished to the casual eye by their more or less tubular shape, by a kind of "belly" or bulge at the base of the sepaline tube, and by the glandular hairs that line the inside of the flower. Their bright colors, reds, oranges and yellows are also often an indication of their relation to this group.

Masdevallia hirtzii

Masdevallia ampullacea

Masdevallia eurynogaster

Masdevallia strobelii

Masdevallia constricta

Masdevallia fuchsii

Masdevallia filaria

Masdevallia mendozae

Masdevallia sotoana

Masdevallia filaria (pale form)

Masdevallia angulifera flava

Masdevallia limax

Mount Baker Orchid Society Show 2012

Saturday, March 10th was out annual orchid show at the Skagit Valley Garden Center in Mount Vernon, Washington. We are a small society and our show is also quite small, with only six exhibitors and three or four vendors. The quality and diversity of orchids in the show, however, made up for the its smallness. I've been to many orchid shows, and for its size this is one of the best, though perhaps I am a bit prejudiced.

I put in the same showcase as last year, but with a new background for the orchids, a cliff and waterfall. I had wanted to put in a real waterfall, but my engineering skills were not up to the task, so I used fake water, though it looked real enough that several people asked if I had to change the water often. My display won several ribbons and a trophy for the best species. Had a fun and relaxing time putting in the exhibit.

My Exhibit

(some of these pictures were taken after the show during take-down)