galendra

A small genus of orchids from the New World includes dazzling species with very showy flowers . The plants will also draw attention with their spindle shaped slim pseudobulbs covered with thin ,semi-deciduous foliage. Yet their most prominent feature is the bizzare-shaped ,funneled flower lip with a backward -extended spur . Most Galeandra orchids are epiphytes ,but the genus also includes some terrestrial species,which ought to be cultivated in a heavier medium and a temperate environment . The epiphytic species are not very easy to grow and they are rare in collections. A necessary condition for the succesful development of the plants is perfect ventilation , a maximum amount of light and lower temperatures in the in the summer . New pseudobulbs are formed on the plant even in the winter. Orchids of the genus Galeandra usually bloom in early spring and only grow in American tropics ; about 20 species are known to grow in vast area between Florida and Brazil. The orchid in the photo -Galeandra sp.-from Arriaga ,Mexico looks a little like G. baueri and represents an undefined specimen of a fairly small ,peculiar species that lives epiphytically in the tops of pines at an altitude of 4,900 ft /1,500 m above sea leavel in the Chiapas ,Mexico.