Pleurothallis sclerophyla
This is an orchid we fell in love with on our first expedition to Brazil in 2000 when we found it growing abundantly on mountain ridges at around 1200-1400m in cloud forest.(photo 3)
Pleurothallis sclerophyla is a wonderful Brazilian species that produces masses of 2cm wide creamy yellow flowers. If you look closely at the flowers you see that they have three long thin sepals, all with slightly hairy edges, two tiny petals with red tips and a tiny yellow lip.
The species has the great habit of flowering for many years from the same leaf axil explaining the dramatic flowering display give by mature plants like our stock plant flowering (photo1)
Our Cloud Forest Greenhouse gives a close match with the native habitat – cool (min 12C) , moist, and shaded, we keep plants well watered throughout the year and find that they do well in pots baskets or mounted.