Vanda bensonii

Vanda bensonii is one of our favourite Vanda species and one that takes me back to the forests of Laos. Although the range quoted for this species on Plants of the World Online is Myanmar, Assam and Thailand I have seen plants in Southern Laos where they grow in the dryer forests around Paksong at around 800 to 1000m altitude making this one of the cooler growing Vandas of South East Asia and one that we find enjoys life in the roof of our Cloud Forest Greenhouse (min 12C) we keep plants virtually dry during the winter to replicate conditions in the deciduous forest home of the species.

The flowers come in a range of browns with a purple lip - a stunning combination reminiscent of many brazillian Cattleya species (see Cattleya guttata below). Another fascinating case of parallel evolution.

Whereas the Cattleya species has darker spots on the flowers, Vanda bensonii provides pattern with lovely tessellation.