Masdevallia mendozae

Masdevallia mendozae is a cool-growing species from the highlands of Ecuador.  It is one of the species in section Saltatrices, a group of species with brightly colored tubular flowers that are lined with glandular hairs, visible in some of these pictures.  It does well for me for a while and then declines and is now coming back once again.  It seems to go into decline when the potting mix becomes stale, so I've been keeping it fresh.

Masdevallia Maui Lollipop 'Hannah'

This is for quite a while now the only Masdevallia hybrid I grow, and I've kept this only because I had it awarded by the American Orchid Society several years ago.  I don't find it unattractive, but just don't grow many hybrids.  This is a hybrid of Masdevallia mendozae and Madevallia Angel Frost, both of which have the hair-lined flowers of the Saltatrices section of Masdevallia.  This plant blooms in the winter and spring with an occasional flower the rest of the year.  The plant is 15 cm tall and the flowers are just over 3 cm long.  The plant is grown, like many others, in a plastic net pot and in sphagnum moss.

Three Orange Saltatrices Masdevallias

None of these plants had a lot of flowers and since they are all from the same group and the same color I thought I'd do them in one post.  The species in the Saltatrices groupof Masdevallias have tubular flowers, bright colors, glandular hairs lining the inside of the flower and a distinct bulge at the bast of the flower tube.  The photos of the three shown here display these features.  The three species in order are Masdevallia glomerosa, a species I've not posted before, Masdevallia mendozae, and Masdevallia hirtzii, all from Ecuador.  All three are small, the plants growing to about 10 cm with 3-4 cm flowers.

Masdevallia mendozae

Masdevallia mendozae is a cool-growing species from the highlands of Ecuador.  It is one of the species in section Saltatrices, a group of species with brightly colored tubular flowers that are lined with glandular hairs, visible in these pictures.  It is somewhat difficult to grow, at least in my experience.  I had a large plant that seemed to be gradually dying off but which has now started to come back and I do not know what caused the decline or why it has started to recover.

Masdevallia Maui Lollipop 'Hannah' HCC/AOS

I don't grow many orchid hybrids but this is one of the few, a charming hybrid of Masdevallia mendozae and Madevallia Angel Frost.  It is most like the Masdevallia mendozae parent with a very tubular flower, but has more erect flower spikes and a paler though brighter orange color, with the flowers slightly more open.  It has a double dose of "hairy" parents,  and so the flowers are lined with glandular hairs.

Masdevallia mendozae

Masdevallia mendozae is a species I've posted before.  It belongs to the Saltatrices group in the genus Masdevallia, which includes my favorite Masdevallias..  The plants in this group generally have tubular flowers and are brightly colored.  This species is no exception.  It comes from Ecuador and is supposed to be very temperature tolerant, growing in warm as well as cool temperatures.  The bright orange flowers are 3.5 cm long and the plant itself is only about 10 cm tall.  The plant is a prolific bloomer and has been reputed to bloom itself to death.  Thankfully that has not happened with my plant.

Saltatrices Masdevallias

The Saltatrices group of Masdevallias are especially desirable and attractive, at least to me.  They are small plants, the flowers are almost all brightly colored, and most of them are easy to grow and profuse bloomers, if given the right conditions, cool temperatures and good humidity.

They are distinguished to the casual eye by their more or less tubular shape, by a kind of "belly" or bulge at the base of the sepaline tube, and by the glandular hairs that line the inside of the flower.  Their bright colors, reds, oranges and yellows are also often an indication of their relation to this group.

Masdevallia hirtzii

Masdevallia ampullacea

Masdevallia eurynogaster

Masdevallia strobelii

Masdevallia constricta

Masdevallia fuchsii

Masdevallia filaria

Masdevallia mendozae

Masdevallia sotoana

Masdevallia filaria (pale form)

Masdevallia angulifera flava

Masdevallia limax