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Many years ago I had a plant of this species. It grew well and produced nice canes. But it would no bloom. Then I moved to a house in one of the highest peaks of the island of Puerto Rico. I took the plant with me. Within weeks of moving the plant to the cooler highlands it was blooming. This plant is not mine, it was for sale in the Mayaguez Orchid show, in Sept 29, 2016.
In 2016, this orchid has produced his best blooming ever, with several inflorescences at the same time. I attribute this to better care during its growing season and that I found the light exposure that is best for good growth, full sun for a few hours in the morning and bright shade the rest of the day.
This plant plant has bloomed several times for me but this is the first time it has bloomed with two inflorescences at the same time. The plant is still relatively young, hopefully in the future it will produce even more inflorescences at the same time.
It is very rare that I can't identify a local species of orchid let alone decide to what genera a plant belongs. My best guess is that this is a freshly opened flower of Basiphyllea corallicola. However since all I have are line drawings and descriptions and my own limited knowledge of this genera, the ID has to be tentative. The plant is growing in the Maricao forest. It was the only open flower of this plant that was not severely damaged or already collapsed. I know the flowers of Basiphyllea barely open, so this may be something else. Then however I have no idea what it is.
Today I visited a population of Cranichis tenuis in the Maricao forest. I was surprised to find only seven plants, when last year were dozens. The place where they grow is not often visited by people so human influence is not suspect. I visited the place early in the morning and found these flowers covered with dew. I like how the flowers look.
