Prosthechea radiata

This wonderful orchid takes me back to the Mayan ruins of Guatemala and the photograph below shows a plant growing high in a tree amongst the Mayan pyramids of Tikal.

Prothechea radiata is found right through Central America and is easily recognised by the purple radial stripes on the lip that give the plant its name. The radial stripes along with the wonderful fragrance are to guide the pollinating butterflies to the nectar.

In Guatemala we found plants growing in semi shade in seasonally dry lowland forest but we find that plants are happy grown cool or warm and our plants love the roof of our cloud forests greenhouse where they are watered throughout the year especially in the late summer when in full growth.