Dracula lotax is native to Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. Its natural habitat is the fresh and humid mountain woods, where it grows as epiphyte on the trunks of trees, covered with mosses, at 800-1600 meters above sea level...
Dracula lotax also called as The Clown Dracula, Masdevallia bomboiza, Masdevallia lotax, is a species of the genus Dracula. This species was described by Carlyle A. Luer in 1978.
IDENTIFY DRACULA LOTAX
Dracula lotax is native to Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. Its natural habitat is the fresh and humid mountain woods, where it grows as epiphyte on the trunks of trees, covered with mosses, at 800-1600 meters above sea level.
It is a mini-miniature to miniature sized, warm to cool growing epiphyte with erect to suberect, slender ramicauls enveloped basally by 2 to 3, loose, tubular sheaths and carrying a single, apical, erect, thinly coriaceous, carinate, narrowly elliptical, acute, gradually narrowing below into the conduplicate, indistinct, channeled petiolate base leaf.
The Clown Dracula blooms in the spring on an slender, purple, suberect, horizontal to descending, 5 to 8 cm long, single flowered inflorescence arising from low on the ramicaul that is sparsely bracted and with tubular floral bracts. The flowers are 2x8 cm in size that look similar to a monkey face.
DRACULA LOTAX 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:
Dracula lotax prefers a medium-low intensity of light: about 10000-13000 lux. The plant must be protected from direct sunlight. The recommended photoperiod is 10-12 hours.
Temperature:
This species, despite being an intermediate-cold greenhouse plant, fortunately also adapts well to intermediate conditions: with 22-24 ° C during the day and 16-17 ° C at night.
Humidity:
The Clown Dracula loves humidity a lot; even if it is placed in the vase, it is recommend at least 60%. If it is bare root, it must have at least 80% moisture.
Substrate, growing media and repotting:
Dracula lotax can be grow in pot or bare root on a raft. Unlike many other Dracula, its floral stems are not directed downwards, so its vase can easily be the normal one, made of transparent plastic. Many, however, to avoid the risk of finding an occasional stem inside the vase, they plant it in a basket, where the stems can pierce the substrate and exit without any obstacle in front. We use pure coarse fiber sphagnum as a substrate.
Watering:
The substrate must always remain moist but not wet, then it gets wet as soon as it has dried sufficiently but not much. Apart from the regular watering, this orchid also likes the daily vaporization of the upper part of the substrate. This species has no rest period, so the watering proceeds in the regular way throughout the year.
Fertilizer:
The cultivated plant is fertilized every 4 watering. It is recommended to use a special fertilizer for orchids, taking 1/4 of the dose indicated on the bottle.
Rest period:
Dracula lotax is not stimulated by the rest period, but only by the daily changes in temperature between day and night. In winter, the amount of water for the plant can somewhat reduced, and fertilization should also reduced or completely eliminated until strong waterings resume.
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