Bloom Event - Miltonia spectabilis var. moreliana

Miltonia spectabilis is a truly lovely species when in flower, but is definitely not grown by enough people. There are a couple of reasons for this. The first is that the whole genus Miltonia is overshadowed by the practically impossible to grow and ubiquitous Miltoniopsis. Secondly, the plants tend to be a bit untidy and are difficult to contain in a pot for any reasonable length of time due to the plants growth habit.

There is a little confusion over the whole Miltonia spectabilis complex, and some authorities now consider Miltonia spectabilis var. Moreliana to be a species in its own right, M. moreliana. I grow both, and there do seem to be differences between the two. For example, var. moreliana blooms a little earlier, and the regular form (at least my plant) seems to often have two flowers per inflorescence, as well as much longer internodes. Whether these are big enough differences to give M. moreliana species status in its own right is for the taxonomists to decide. For the time being, I will continue with the old name until I am told otherwise for definite.

I’m pleased to say that Miltonia spectabilis var. moreliana is much better behaved than the regular form of the species.The shorter internodes mean the plant is much better suited to pot culture. They are still on the long side, but much more manageable. It grows in my warm growroom with most of my other orchids, with temperatures in the upper twenties in the day and in the mid to upper teens at night. It seems a very tolerant species, and I have grown and flowered it quite a bit cooler than this, though not for several years. As is typical with Miltonia species, it is quite shallow rooted and there is no point at all in growing it in anything other than a broad shallow container. It is also fine rooted, but I generally advise against using too fine a potting material and my plant seems fine in medium bark chips with regular watering. Regular repotting is necessary because the plant has quite a gap between pseudobulbs and quite quickly reaches the edges of its container. Luckily it doesn't resent disturbance at all. It has a pleasing habit of frequently ‘breaking double’ and regularly produces two growths from its leading pseudobulb meaning plants can either be fairly frequently divided or will quickly grow into a nice specimen. A favourite trick of mine is to leave the plant in its pot and make a back cut a few pseudobulbs back on the rhizome to force the plant to make new growth toward the back where there is often no leaves or flowers.

The blooms are borne on single-flowered inflorescences as the new growths mature. Spikes appear to be quite slow to develop, but at least the blooms are long lasting when they finally open. I'd never noticed before, but the flowers are delicately perfumed. The colour is a truly wonderful deep shade of Amethyst purple with a slightly lighter lip delicately marked with darker veining. Just stunning. Of course, purple is my favourite colour, so I would be biased. I prefer both varieties of the species to all of the hybrids using this species because although it passes on the lovely purple colour, it also passes on the low flower count and the hybrid flowers tend to be clustered and crowded at the end of the spikes making the flower spikes rather untidy.

I can heartily recommend this species to anyone who can provide a bit of heat and humidity but this is a plant that will probably perform perfectly well as a houseplant.