Renanthera monachica Ames 1915, slow growing but rewarding

This small Renanthera is a very slow grower under my conditions.  Thankfully it will bloom at a size that is positively microscopic when compared with its relatives such as Ren. coccinea and Ren storiei.  The bright colored flowers are a veritable plague magnet, I had to spray mine regularly with a mild insecticidal dilution just to be able to enjoy a full inflorescence.  Even the something bit off the dorsal petal of the first flower to open.

The flowers open slowly over the course of weeks.  The first flower opened on February 8 and it took until the 19 for the inflorescence to open its 10 th flower.  The inflorescence still has a bit to go until all the flowers are open.  I recommend this plant for people with limited space and endless patience.

Renanthera monachica in Puerto Rico damaged by a native orchid weeveil Stethobaris polita

An intact flower for comparison.

Last week I was looking forward to enjoying the beauty of an inflorescence of Renanthera monachica with all its flowers open.  Distressingly, I found that something had damaged the open flowers and some of the buds.  But it was not obvious which animal was causing the damage.  I visited the flowers several times during the day and then found that the culprit for the damage was a native orchid beetle, Statobaris polita.  I checked all my other orchids and the only one that had beetles was the Renanthera.  I only use pesticides as a weapon of last resort.  What I do with these weevils is that when I find them in flowers, I put a small cup with a combination of detergent and alcohol under the flower and then I shake the flower gently.  The weevils will react by helpfully dropping into the cup and partaking of the detergent and the alcohol.  These weevils are a seasonal pest, months can go by without one showing on the flowers and then they start to appear, but never in large numbers.  At the peak of their infestation I can find five to ten a week in the flowers.  They had not been a problem before the exotic orchid Sphatoglottis plicata established large populations in the forest.  I saw the first Sphatoglottis plant in the forest, a white one, in 2004, now they are common and in some places downright abundant.

Renanthera monachica Ames 1915, one of the smallest species of a genus known for its tall plants

Renanthera is a genus that is know for being a genus of tall plants that produce large inflorescences with dozens of red flowers.  But this genus also has smaller plants which produce flowers in color other than red.  One of the smallest is Renanthera monachica.  I brought this plant last year and today it opened its first flower.  The plant is five inches tall and the inflorescence of has just a few flowers.  Compare this with Renanthera coccinea, I had a plant that was seven feet tall and produced a three feet wide inflorescence that had 144 flowers.  This orchid is doing well in the Rio Abajo climatic conditions and I expect that it will continue growing taller and blooming.  I find it slow growing in comparison with my other Renanthera.