sobralia crocea

Common Name - The Saffron Yellow Sobralia

A feature shared by all Sobralia orchids are their long (up to 6.5 ft/2 m! ) , thin ,grdually lingnifying ,reed-like stems . The leaves are lanceolate and stiff with a lengthwise waving Beautiful flowers appear on the apices of the shoots and resemble those of Cattleya orcids in appearance . However ,the rare and almost unknown species sobralia crocea is an exception that proves the above mentioned 'rules '' ! The length of its stems hardly ever exceeds 16 in /40 cm ,its flowers are relatively small( 1.2 -2 in /3-5 cm across)and do not resemble the shape of their large flowered relatives . There are one or two of them growing on the ends of thickly foliaged ,partially -overhanging shoots . The elongated ,shiny orange tepals remain permanently half -closed and almost conceal the slightly paler tubulur lip with a wavy edge . Besides it s small proportions ,the species sobralia crocea is also exceptional because of its epiphytic life style ,which is not typical of the other Sobralias . In culture ,it should therefore be mounted on a bark plate , propped up with a layer of moss and kept in a some what humid semi-shade . sobralia crocea Orchid plant blooms in the winter and spring and comes from Ecuador -our photo was taken in the vicinity of San Francisco de Borja ,Ecuador.

Synonyms

*Cyathoglottis crocea Poepp. & Endl. 1836; Sobralia gracilis Schltr. 1916