Sobralia callosa L.O. Williams 1946, a tiny representative of a genus know for its gigantic plants

Until a few years ago, all the Sobralias I knew were either large, or gigantic plants.   When I visited Ecuador I saw Sobralia plants with fifteen feet tall canes.    About two years ago I brought a Sobralia decora and was pleasantly surprised at how well it did in my garden.   Encouraged by my success with Sob. decora I decided to try other species.  Among the species I brought was Sobralia callosa.

At first I was overly enthused with this plant as I had never seen it in bloom in any local show or group meeting, a sign that either it was not that popular, or that few people were able to keep it alive.  But I was pleasantly surprised when it grew well without any special attention.  In 2014, it bloomed three times.  The first time it bloomed I missed it entirely and only found out when I noticed the wilted flower.  The second time it bloomed it produced a single flower, then in its last bloom of the year it produced four.

The photos here are of the flowers produced in January 7, 2015.  I expect that as the plant gets larger the number of flowering stems will increase.  The plant is practically microscopic by Sobralia standards, the stems barely reaching nine inches, this makes it the ideal plant for those that want to enjoy the flowers of this genus but lack the space to keep even the medium sized species.

I have yet to repot this plant from its original pot.  My experience repotting these plants have been varied.  I repotted Sobralia decora and it kept growing well without missing a beat.  I repotted Sobralia violacea it died slowly, never producing a new growth.  So my advice would be, if you are repotting these genus, to be careful and try to avoid damage to the root ball.

Sobralia callosa grows well in my climatic area, during most of the year it experiences highs in the middle seventies and low in the middle sixties.   In the summer temperatures can climb into the middle eighties but remain there just for a few hours.  I don’t fertilize this species often, watering is done weekly during the dry season, during the wet season it can rain daily for weeks or months on end.  The plant is in a place where it gets full morning sun from 8:00 until 10:30 am the rest of the day it gets sunlight filtered thought the canopy of trees that surround the house.

Peristeria elata, the inflorescence of my largest plant

These are photos of the inflorescence of my largest and most vigorous plant of Peristeria elata.  A well grown plant can produce a big inflorescence that can have many flowers open at the same time.   The largest plants can produce two inflorescences at the same time. Unfortunately the weight of the flowers tilted the inflorescence to one side so the display is not as pleasing as it could be.  So my recomendation is to use a stake to keep the inflorescence perfectly vertical, it should be placed before any of the flowers open.

Peristeria elata, Holy Ghost orchid, observations on flower size.

Fully opened flower from the 2007 blooming

Flower from August 2007 blooming opening

 Flower of August 2007 blooming opening

Flower September 2013

The plant as it was in 2007

In the Puerto Rican orchid society show of 2007 I was looking at the plants on sale when I spotted a large Peristeria elata plant.  The plant had particularly large pseudobulbs, however it had no sign of having recently bloomed.  I was a bit unsure of whether to buy the plant because I had the experience of having Peristeria elata plants that grew to a large size, with huge bulbs and beautiful leaves but that never bloomed.  The vendor seeing that I was vacillating about buying the plant, offered to sell it to me for $20.  At this price this orchid was an incredible bargain, I snapped the plant up before the vendor could change his mind.  I brought this plant around February.

The plant stayed inactive for a few months.  In May I was overjoyed to find that the plant had not one but two inflorescences on the way.  The inflorescences grew slowly and seemed to take forever to open.  The first flower opened after the middle of August.  The flowers were the biggest I had ever seen.  The flowers not only were huge but opened fully, this was unlike the other Peristeria flowers I have seen which were always cupped.

For a few months I enjoyed these unusual flowers.  When the plant bloomed again the next year the flowers were noticeably smaller and remained cupped.  This has been the norm after that first glorious blooming.  My theory is that the plant was in prime condition when I brought it but something, don’t ask me what, had inhibited it from flowering for several years previously.  My suspicion is that the plant used its ample reserves to produce the large flowers of its first blooming.

Since its first blooming in 2007 plant has continued to bloom every year, but it has never again produced the massive flowers of that first year.  I suspect that if I prevented the plant from blooming for a year, it may again produce flowers like that of its first blooming.  It is already too late in the year to try this in 2013 since my plants already have inflorescences that are opening its flowers, but it would be something interesting to try next year.

Peristeria elata, the Holy Ghost Orchid

Peristeria elata is one of my favorite orchids because of its beauty and the tiny mimicry of a dove that is created by shape the column and the lip of the flower. I tried to grow Peristeria elata a number of times in the past and every time my plants would grow to a tremendous size, but then they would fail to bloom even after years of devoted care. I would eventually lose the plants mostly to neglect once it was clear they would not bloom ever. This was very frustrating for me since the culture of this plant is not that difficult. I Eventually found out why I never got flowers from my plants, the key was provided paradoxically by a plant that would not bloom for its previous owner.
I was at an orchid show a few years ago and in a vendor's stall I spied the largest Peristeria plant I had ever seen. The pseudobulbs were enormous, each significantly larger than my clenched fist. I asked the vendor for the plant and heard a familiar story, in spite of excellent care, the plant would not bloom. I asked for the price in a distant, not very interested way and the vendor told me that since he was tired of devoting bench space to a non blooming plant, I could have it for $20.00. In a second I had brought the plant.
But this time around I did things differently with the culture of the plant. When the dry season started I stopped watering it. Even though the pseudobuls became wrinkled I resisted the temptation to water. Also no fertilizer was given to the plant. In addition to these measures, now I was living at a higher elevation than when I had my previous plants and every night in the dry season the plant would experience a 10F to 15F degrees temperature drop.
Nothing happened with this plant and for months on end it showed no sign of blooming or growing.
Then in the summer of 2007, I saw two green tips coming out of the base of one of the bulbs. One was clearly a new growth but the other appeared to be an inflorescence. As the weeks went by I was delighted with the fact that the plant appeared to be on its way to produce a very large inflorescence. The inflorescence topped out at four feet and a half and produced the largest Peristeria flowers I had ever seen. Impressively large and opening more widely than any Peristeria flowers I had seen previously, the flowers were a delight to the eye. They were also powerfully fragrant. They were so fragrant that the fragrance started getting a but cloying. The plant bloomed several years in a row and then I had to repot and divide it because it had filled its pot. I expect the divisions to start blooming next year.
So what is what I learned about this plant? I learned that for this plants I need to emulate their natural seasonal cycle to trigger blooming. In my case giving the plant year round watering and fertilizer will produce amazing plants but no flowers.
This orchid is the national flower of Panama and it is sadly endangered in the wild from overcolletion. But it is easily available in the market. If you have the time,the space and the appropiate growing conditions this is a good plant to grow and on the plus side it is also a handsome foliage plant that when well grown resembles a seedling coconut palm.