coelogyne-cristata

''An orchid for cactus-fans''. Its love of a cool environment and the need for winter rest used to make C.cristata a frequent and popular inhabitant of cactus greenhouseswith mimimal heating. In the past decade , it has lost its significance for cultivation and become ,paradoxically,quite rare. C. cristata forms sphere-shaped smooth pseudobulbs that reach a length of up to 2.4 in/ 6 cm . Each of them bears a couple of narrow ,lanceolate,tough leaves. A raceme of 3-9 flowers with showy lips embellished with yellow protuberances grows out of the base of each pseudobulb in early spring . One negative quality of the flowers is their excessive flaccidity and a rumpled appearance . Grow the orchids in flowerpots filled with a permeable and always slightly moistmedium;in the winter ,they will do well in an environment that is only slightly heated . The species owes its cryophilia to its habitat-Himalayan altitudes of over 6,500 ft/2000 m above sea level.