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Prescottia oligantha is a tiny terrestrial orchid that is native of Puerto Rico. Previously I had only seen a single plant. In January 27, 2015 I found a small colony of about half a dozen plants near the Torre de Piedra. The plants are easy to miss. I found them because I had a good search image of what I was looking for. It is not a rare plant however very few people notice them due to the small size of the plant and tiny flowers.
Prescottia oligantha is one of the tiniest native orchids in Puerto Rico. The plant itself is of a small size, in some cases just a single two or three inch leaf growing flush against the forest floor. I found this plant growing in the Maricao State Forest in a slope near a cliff. The plant was composed of a single two inch leaf and a thin inflorescence with tiny non resupinate flowers. Once you are in their favored habitat plants are not that difficult to find as you can see the leaves in the forest floor easily enough. But the flowers are so small they demand a magnifying glass or a faily good macro lens if you want to get a good look or a reasonably good photo. This plant is not horticulturaly significant. Given their tiny, hard to see flowers, it is no surprise that they are virtually unknown in the local orchid growing circles.
