Pleurothallis from Ecuador

Pleurothallis matudana C. Schweinf. 1938 . Mindo, Ecuador

Pleurothallis index from Ecuador

An unidentified Pleurotallis species from Ecuador

I have not been able to identify it.

A Pleurothallis hybrid, (Plths. phymatoidea x Plths. teaguei)

In Puerto Rico, few people cultivate Pleurothallis.  I suspect the main reason is that most of the flowers of this genus are small, drab and that the plants are a challenge to grow in the sweltering, relatively dry and windy coasts of the island.  This plant was impressively large as Pleurothallis go but only had one opened flower.  I photographed it at the 2016 Puerto Rico orchid society show in the Rio Piedras botanical garden.

When mighty forest giants fall

On May 4 I was hiking in the El Yunque forest.  In my hike came across two large trees that had fallen.   One was largely intact, the other had fallen on a road and had been cut in pieces. When I saw them I could not help thinking of what happened when an ancient Chinese emperors died.  When the emperor died, a number of servants and other people were sacrificed to accompany the emperor in his afterlife.  In the case of these trees, they were laden with epiphytic orchids which face certain death in the forest floor.  In the tree that fell in an open area most orchids died from sunburn.  In the one that fell in a shady spot, the orchids are still alive but will eventually die when the trunk rots away,  There were Lepanthes, Pleurothallis, Ornithidium, Jaquiniella, Epidendrum as well as others I could not ID.  I didn't collect any of them, the forest is in a protected area and collection is forbidden.  Also these orchids live in a habitat that provides very, very high humidity along with brisk air movement, this is not a combination that the average orchid grower can easily provide.

Pleurothallis gargantua seen in Mindo, Ecuador

I saw this plant in the gardens of Cabañas Armonia in Mindo Ecuador.  This very large pleurothallid orchid has the largest flowers in a genus that is most commonly known for small plants with tiny flowers.  This plant is native of Ecuador where it lives in mountain forests at heights of between 4500 and 7500 feet in cool and wet locations.  In the location where I saw this plant there is little if any seasonal variation but temperatures fluctuate widely from between 75F during the day to 45 at night.  

Pleurothallis scoparum from Colombia and Ecuador, also known as Colombiana scoparum

I saw this interesting orchid in the garden of Cabañas Armonia, in Mindo, Ecuador.  The host, Alicia Toapanta, told me that the plant had been relocated to this area from some tree which were cut to make a road.  I was quite taken by this unusual Pleurothallid.  In this orchid the inflorescences grow from the tip of the leaf, not as it is most common in this genus from the base of the leaf.  So unusual is this type of flowering that this orchid and similar others were placed in a new genus Colombiana in 2004.   This flower lives in an area where day temperatures are quite pleasant, in the 70 F range, but night temperatures go down into the 40F.  This daily temperature cycle happens all year round with little if any seasonal change.

Pleurothallis aristata, a highly beautiful but pretty small native orchid of Puerto Rico

A head on view of a flower

The fingertip in the photo can give a sense of scale to judge the size of the flower

Plants of this species growing in a dead branch that had fallen from a tree but was held up in the air because it had become tangled in a mass of vines

I have found Pleurothallis aristata in the upper reaches of the Luquillo Sierra.  Although it is considered uncommon I have not confronted much difficulty finding it.  I have seen it from time to time growing in trees and twigs alongside some roads.  The thing is that I have not found it for long in any particular place.  For a time many plants could be found growing on the trunks of the tree ferns in the higest of the visitor’s areas of the Caribbean National Forest of El Yunque but the last time I was there they all had disappeared.  I found a good cluster of plants on a tangle of fallen branches but these are doomed to die in the long run as the twigs decay in the eternal heat and moisture of the rainforest.  But I am sure I will find it again elsewhere if I keep a sharp eye out for it.  This plant has a vast geographical distribution which includes Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, the Windward Islands and Central and South America. 

The flowers of this plant are quite good looking but their tiny size and the fact that the flowers are displayed facing downward practically guarantees that in its natural habitat it will remain unnoticed except for a very few orchidists that are exceedingly fond of miniatures.  This plant makes small clumps that usually have a few inflorescences with open flowers or seed pods.  It is said to bloom from spring into summer.

I have not seen this plant in cultivation locally and very few orchidists in PR seem to be aware or interested in this plant.  The only photo of a flower similar to those I have seen in the wild in PR was from a plant growing in a collection in Paris, France.  Photos from other sites, such as orchidspecies.com, show flowers with somewhat different patterns that the ones I have seen in PR.

I suspect that with proper care this plant would be able to grow satisfactorily in the warmer coastal areas of Puerto Rico if someone desired to grow it.  But at the moment there seems to be absolutely no interest in this plant from the local horticultural community.

Pleurothallis ruscifolia a common but rarely noticed rainforest orchid

The flowers of Pleurothallis ruscifolia are small. green and translucid.

Pleuth. ruscifolia plants can be very common in their favored habitat

Pleurothallis ruscifolia is a small epiphytic orchid that is fairly easy to find in the upper eaches of the Sierra de Luquillo.   Because of its inconspicuous and small flowers it is not a subject of horticultural interest except for an extremely small number of orchidist whose focus is on orchids native of PR.  Even among those orchidists this species doesn't seem to be in favor as I have yet to see one of those even among the educational orchid displays that are specifically made to present a selection of native orchid species.