Trichocentrum Ollie Palmer

[coeruleo]

these mule ears are not easy to find. i tracked down a very small selection online of trichocentrums, and got an "ollie palmer" that i assume is blooming size. the leaves are very stiff, like plastic, not just succulent, and the darn thing is quite heavy, in just a little 3" clay pot, i'm guessing 6 pounds or more. i don't see why they were thought to be oncidiums from just the plant. they seem so distinct, like tolumnia but much larger. the flowers might seem to be like an oncidium, but this plant looks like a phal standing at attention. like a heavy fake phal. it has a new growth coming up in the pocket of the basal bract...

i hear they grow really slow. hopefully i can watch this new growth develop and flower. i'm tempted to keep it outside this winter. its parents seem to be thought of as candidates for growing outdoors. i am curious about the upright growth, in nature, do these types collect debris? it seems like they would possibly. a large clump would for certain.

[angel]

I saw a similar orchid and I was puzzled. The vendor didin't know what it was. The flowers looked like big oncidiums but the leaves looked like phal leaves except that they grew on separate pseudobulbs. I think what I saw was similar to this one.