Another mini miniature species is Pleurothallis sonderana. The species is endemic to Southern Brazil where it grows as an epiphyte in cool moist forest.

We find Pleurothallis sonderana is a vigorous plant that forms a great little specimen and can be easily propagated by division. We always grow the species mounted and the plant shown has completely covered its 3cm x 4cm cork mount.

We grow plants shaded in Cool Americas and spray it daily.

This relatively large flowered stelis species is found in cool mossy forests in Ecuador, Colombia and Peru as an epiphyte or lithophyte from 1200 to 3000m altitude.

This is the ninth stelis species we have included in 365 days reflecting both the diversity of the genus (there are around 500 stelis species) and the large number of species we grow at Writhlington. We first met the genus in the cloud forests around Macae de Cima in Brazil and ever since we have been to show what rewarding and interesting plants these are.

This is a bi-foliate Cattleya from Eastern Brazil where it grows as a lithophyte on rocks at around 500m altitude. When grown well it has tall bulbs and up to twenty flowers on a spike.

To match its habitat it enjoys warm bright conditions and a well drained compost. We find it does best in a basket with just course bark. The lithophytic orchids we have seen in Brazil in similar conditions produce abundant roots that cling to the rock and are able to collect ample water when rain falls but dry out completely for periods in the  dry season (our winter) when not in growth.

This unusual cymbidium species is native to the Himalayas where we have seen it growing abundantly in forests above Gangtok (capital of Sikkim) as well as in North Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh.

It is a medium sized species but a vigorous species and when not in flower can be identified by the large number of seed pods left from the many crowded flowers on the spike. It grows in cool wet evergreen forest and is usually high in trees.

We find the species is well suited to growing in a large basket which we water daily and develops a layer of moss over time. We grow with a minimum temperature od 10C in Cool Asia but it could tolerate lower.

This species is found in Ecuador normally growing in cool damp cloud forests. we grow them in cool america, in a wet and shady place, away from sunlight. They grow up to 2800 to 3300 meters in cloud forests, and also they’re normally  1/2 cm long.

the flowers attract a male fungus gnat by mimicking a female gnat.