Bloom Event - Prosthechea lancifolia (trulla)

Prosthechea lancifolia (or trulla - I'll explain later) is a good little performer for me. I have been waiting for this one to bloom so I could blog about it, and now it is. There is a good deal of confusion over the naming of this particular group of orchids. According to recent research, Prosthechea cochleata and Prosthechea lancifolia are conspecific with P. lancifolia being assigned Prosthechea cochleata var. cochleata, at least according to the Kew Monocot Checklist. Some authorities list P. lancifolia as P. trulla. As I always understood the situation, P. lancifolia was not fragrant while P. trulla is fragrant. If P. lancifolia is now conspecific with P. cochleata this would make perfect sense as P. cochleata is not fragrant either. I am going to assume that my plant is, in fact, P. trulla, despite it saying P. lancifolia on the label since it is very fragrant indeed.

I think you'll agree that its a pretty little thing. The plant is small, only a few inches high, with the flower spikes growing to about as tall as the leaves. Now my plant is a few years old, it seems to flower in flushes. You can see fresh buds just in amongst the open flowers on the above photo. The first flush is just starting to go over now, and a second is developing from the tip of the flower spike. This is a habit that some cultivars of P. cochleata have and some plants of that species can remain in bloom for a very long time indeed. P. lancifolia doesn't flower for quite so long but at least there will be more blooms after this first lot are done with.

The plant is nice and tidy and flower spikes need no support. It flowers reliably from the apex of each pseudobulb, though I have no idea whether it has a specific bloom trigger or whether it just does. Either way, flowers last around three weeks in good condition and are very fragrant. I think I prefer the scent of this to Prosthechea fragrans though neither is a particular favourite of mine.

Pseudobulbs are nicely clustered on a short rhizome and are egg shaped when viewed from the front but are compressed and quite flat from the side. This species seems easy going and tolerant of various water related mishaps; more so than many other species in its family (thinking specifically of Cattleya, here). It is quite fine rooted and seems to do well in medium bark chips. I allow it to dry between waterings but not so much that the pseudobulbs start to shrivel. It seems amenable to either warm or cool growing conditions and will probably make a very good windowsill orchid.