Tongue orchid

Tongue Orchid produces flowers which smell of dead rotting flesh to attract blowflies, which aid pollination. It has finger-like red flowers and tongue like leaves which are up to 1 meter in length.It blooms during march - may and the sepals and petals are brownish-purple with dark stripes. The central lobe is darker, heart shaped, 20-35 mm long, and has two black lumps near the base. It has narrow, lance shaped and channelled, up to 13 cm long. The basal leaves are sheath-like, purplish with red spots. In the wild the Tongue Orchid grows on host rocks,cultivation of the plant is difficult but with extreme care it can be grown on a piece of cork oak. The original home of the Tongue Orchid is the mountainous areas of Papua New Guinea.