Bloom Event - Gongora galeata

After the beauties posted last week, its time to look at one of the oddities in my collection. I can't pretend to be the best grower of this species, and this is the first time it has produced any blooms for me after three years in my care. Three flower spikes were produced, simultaneously with a new growth. One of the spikes has blasted (orchid growers term for buds dropping or spikes dying altogether), another spike has blasted all but two buds. The third spike has opened all its flowers. It is an odd looking species, even in bud.

It is nigh on impossible to get a decent photo of this plant; the flower spike swings precariously in the merest breath of wind, and they blend very well into the background (at least as far as the camera is concerned). It isn't very obvious on the photo, but the flowers are actually arranged quite precisely on the spike, in three ranks (I think there would be four ranks on longer spikes). Flowers open more or less simultaneously. Here is the result.....

Funny looking thing, isn't it. I know it is hard for some people (excluding myself, of course) to get excited about what can only be described as a brown flower, but they are so intricately formed, it is hard not to wonder at them. It took me ages to work out which was the lip,the column or the dorsal sepal. The hood like structure is (as far as I can tell) the dorsal sepal (the petal that sits upright on a 'normal' orchid flower), with the column (the bit that sticks out of the centre of a 'normal' orchid flower) sitting in the back of the hood. The labellum (lip) sits upright between the two sepals sitting at 180 degrees to each other. Weird, isn't it?

When I look at the whole spike, the flowers do seem to have the appearance of hovering insects. I haven't done enough research on the whole Stanhopea tribe (of which Gongora is a part) to know the ins and outs of their pollination mechanisms, but the flowers seem to have evolved to attract a certain species of bee (often one species per orchid species). The flower may or may not offer a reward for this service. I do think if you've gone to all that trouble to attract a specific insect, you ought to make it worth their while !

The blooms carry quite a pleasant fragrance (not all orchids smell good, believe me), sort of spicy and quite strong.

I hope to become better at cultivating Gongora orchids (there are quite a few species) as a whole, as this plant really just seems to limp along. At least it is strong enough to produce blooms now, though so I can't be getting it entirely wrong. It seems to enjoy quite a lot of water and humidity and has definitely done better since I got the growroom set up properly. I think it probably has a slight rest after growth is complete during which it seems to need a little less water, but it also doesn't appreciate being allowed to go dry.