Chysis bractescens is native to Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua. These widespread but rare plants are usually low on the slopes of the mountains...
Chysis bractescens also called as The Bracteate Chysis, Chysis aurea var bractescens, Chysis makoyi, Thorwaldsenia speciosa, Thorvaldsenia speciosa, is a species of the genus Chysis. This species was described by John Lindley in 1840.
IDENTIFY CHYSIS BRACTESCENS
Chysis bractescens is native to Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua. These widespread but rare plants are usually low on the slopes of the mountains towards the Gulf of Mexico or the Caribbean, from the state of Vera Cruz in Mexico and south to Nicaragua, but are also known for the hills in El Salvador, directed towards the Pacific. They grow usually as epiphytes in damp mountain forests below 850 m, but in Nicaragua they were found at an altitude of 1500 m.
It is a large sized, warm to cool growing epiphyte, which reaching up to 50 cm in length, with fat, fusiform, pendulous, up to 30 cm long and up to 4 cm in diameter canes concealed by white, scarious sheaths and carries several apical, linear or oblong-lanceolate, acuminate, undulate, up to 40 cm long leaves.
The Bracteate Chysis blooms from the base of a new growth as it appears in the spring with a pendulous to arching, robust, 30 cm long, racemose inflorescence with foliaceous, ovate or acuminate, concave bracts that carries up to 10 waxy, fragrant flowers. The flowers are almost 7.5 cm in diameter. Each flower is embedded in a short, stalked ovary with a length of 1.5 cm, has a large triangular to ovate, deeply concave and sharp tipped floral bract with a length of up to 4.5 cm. The wide-spread white flakes of both whorls are thick and fleshy, the petals of the inner whorl and the dorsal flake have rounded tops, and the outer flakes have pointed tips. The deeply indented 3-flap yellowish lip has side plots that bend upward and partially enclose the rod, while the forward central plot often has red-brown stripes.
CHYSIS BRACTESCENS CARE AND CULTURE
Cultural information should only be used as a guide, and should be to be adapted to suit you. Your physical location; where you grow your plants, how much time you have to devote to their care, and many other factors, will need to be taken into account. Only then can you decide on the cultural methods that best suit you and your plants.
Light:
Chysis bractescens needs a light level of 20000-35000 lux. The light should be filtered or dispersed, and the plants should not be exposed directly to the sun in the afternoon hours. Strong air movement should be ensured all the time.
Temperature:
It is a plant with moderate thermal requirements. In summer, the average daytime temperatures are 27 ° C and the night 20 ° C, with an amplitude of 6-7 ° C. In winter, the average day temperature is 23-24 ° C, the average night 16-17 ° C, which gives a daily difference of 7-8 ° C.
Humidity:
The Bracteate Chysis needs the humidity of about 80% throughout the year.
Substrate, growing media and repotting:
Because Chysis bractescens have a sloping or hanging habit, they are easier to drive if they are mounted on uneven bark or tree fern washers. However, it is necessary to ensure high humidity, which means that in the summer the plants should be watered at least once a day. In the case of such suspended plants, during the dry and hot periods it may be necessary to water several times a day.
These plants grow well in hanging pots and baskets that allow them to grow naturally, but they should be filled with a loose, airy substrate that allows the roots to dry quickly after watering. For plants grown in pots or baskets, cut fibers of tree fern are recommended as a substrate, because they decompose slower than the bark and thanks to that replanting can be performed less often. Some also recommend adding perlite or large pieces of charcoal to such a substrate.
These plants react badly to repotting or dividing, so these activities should be performed only when the substrate is decomposed, or when the plant grows out of the container. Repotting or dividing plants should be done when the growth of new roots begins. This allows plants to acclimatize in a relatively short time and provides them with the least stress.
Watering:
Rainfall for most of the year is intense with a slightly drier period at the end of winter and early spring. The cultivated plants should be abundantly watered during active growth, but the roots must always dry quickly after watering. The substrate around the roots can never be desiccated or soggy. The amount of water should be slightly reduced when new increments reach maturity in the autumn.
Fertilizer:
The plants should be fertilized every week 1/4-1/2 of the recommended dose of fertilizer for orchids. A fertilizer with a high nitrogen content is beneficial from spring to mid-summer, and a fertilizer richer in phosphorus should be used in late summer and autumn.
Rest period:
In winter, watering for Chysis bractescens should be reduced, especially if they grow in the conditions of a dark, short day occurring in moderate latitudes. However, they should not be completely dry or dry for a long period of time. Fertilization should be reduced or eliminated until new growths appear and a more abundant spring watering begins.
Am interesting write up there, thankyou ! So would you recommend any of the regular bags of Orchid Bark that I find in my ( uk )local garden centres then ? I have a Chysis bractescens on it's way to me now as I write this to you :) I need to know for sure what potting medium it would prefer ? Mine will be simply going into a pot . Thanks in advance . Debbie
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