Pleurothallis of some kind - help

[Brutal_Dreamer]

Recently I inherited an Orchidarium full of miniature orchids that I have never grow before. Strange story, but a man who I met one or two times was diagnosed with terminal cancer and was in his final days. His brother found me via the internet and asked if I could save the orchids his brother had been growing in his apartment. I said that I would do my best and ended up with a neglected collection of miniatures. Probably 60 to 70 orchids with a few tillandsia plants mixed into the bunch. Anyway, to make a long story short, I got the Orchidarium home, cleaned it up, cleaned up all the plants, cleaned the fan and light and got the thing set up and working. Last night I noticed that a third plant had bloomed in there. It is a pleurothallis I believe. I've never grown orchids this small, so this was difficult to photograph too (please forgive the shot; it was the best out of several attempts.) Anyway, I spent a long time putting tags to plants in this setup. I still have an envelop of tags that are not associated with plants, but most I have been able to identify based on the foliage/ bloom. This is one of those that I have not been able to identify. Can you help?



The plant is so small. I took a couple of other shots to try to show scale for those who grow these little orchids.




Any help with the name of this plant would be much appreciated. Also, any recommendation of fertilizing these tiny guys would be helpful. I need to feed them soon since I suspect they haven't been fed in some time.

EDIT: I found the name of this one with the help of Nicki, Pavel, and Serama. See post Number 7 Restrepia trichoglossa
cheers,
BD

[nicki]

Have you done various searches for Restrepia? I have no experience with these other than 'window' shopping online. To me so many look alike. Cute bloom.

[gardenguysorchids]

Bruce what a great story. I can't think of a better person than you to be entrusted with this collection. Really a bittersweet life event. Love the bloom.

[pavel]

Definitely a Restrepia -- nice sized one too. A perusal of Jay's Orchid Encyclopedia: Jay's Internet Orchid Species Photo Encyclopedia -Q-SEL
might help you, Bruce, if no one can ID it. While I do like Restreps, most of them look about the same to me. Like many of the pleuros, streps don't like drying out completely. Whether this one is a cool grower or a warm is entirely a crap shoot without knowing the species. I'd aim for intermediate temps in the meantime.

While I envy you your windfall, I do feel sorry for the previous owner. I'm glad the man's brother cared enough to seek you out.

So are all the orchids unlabeled?

[Brutal_Dreamer]

Thanks, I'll check out Restrepia and see if I can find it.

......

So are all the orchids unlabeled?

No, over half were labeled, Paul, and I have already identified several of the non-labeled ones simply by their foliage and the location of the dropped tags in the Orchidarium. Most will have to wait until they bloom. There are several tags (that were on top of the case) and not enough plants to match up with them all, so I hope I'll be able to bloom them.

cheers,
BD

[Brutal_Dreamer]

Well, I went through the envelope of tags and pulled all the ones for Restrepia and did some internet searches and found it! This orchid is Restrepia brachypus 'B'.

Thanks for the help. Another one labeled.

cheers,
BD

[serama]

Bruce, I grow quite a few of these and colour is not the best way to distinguish between restrepia species as there are several that have that particular pattern (red stripes on a yellow/orange background), but at least it narrows the choice down. Out of those that are common in the trade and have this colouring, there are only two that have flowers of the right size and shape to fit your plant: Rest. brachypus and trichoglossa. Based on the shape of the lip however, I think you've got Rest. trichoglossa there. The lip of Rest. brachypus is wider and has a distinct indentation at the tip giving it the shape of a lizard's tongue. The lip of Rest. trichoglossa is thinner, more linear and without such an obvious notch.

[Brutal_Dreamer]

Bruce, I grow quite a few of these and colour is not the best way to distinguish between restrepia species as there are several that have that particular pattern (red stripes on a yellow/orange background), but at least it narrows the choice down. Out of those that are common in the trade and have this colouring, there are only two that have flowers of the right size and shape to fit your plant: Rest. brachypus and trichoglossa. Based on the shape of the lip however, I think you've got Rest. trichoglossa there. The lip of Rest. brachypus is wider and has a distinct indentation at the tip giving it the shape of a lizard's tongue. The lip of Rest. trichoglossa is thinner, more linear and without such an obvious notch.

Thanks for your thought on this one, Tony. Since I've not grown any of these before now, I'm relying on those who have to identify them. In going through the tags, I did not have a tag for Rest. trichoglossa, but do have the vendor tag for Rest. brachypus 'B'. Since this orchid is growing on 'A stick', I visited the vendor and he did not have this particular orchid in his listing. A google search did return this link with the Rest. trichoglossa and it is much closer to the bloom I have. I wonder if the vendor sent the wrong tag with this plant originally?

I'm going to make a new tag with the Restrepia trichoglossa name as I feel it is correct. Thanks so much.

Restrepia trichoglossa


My Restrepia.


cheers,
BD

[Orchidmorris]

Well done! You answered the NOID yourself! It is Restepia trichoglossa. I have got the same plant too. It's a frequent flowerer. But it's doing well when night temperatures drop more then 6 degree. And in a terrarium (orchidarium) this is hard to establish. Probibly the move from one place to another was enough to trigger the flower and hopefully for you there will be more on it's way!

Enjoy this species. There are a lot more species in this genus that deserve much more interest from growers. Miniatures are great fun!

Maurice
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[catttan]

What a wonderful gift Bruce. I have always loved miniatures but can't seem to locate any at our local nurseries.