Polystachya caloglossa is found at 1520 m on Mt. Cameroon in western Cameroon. It is now known to occur in forests at 900-1520 m across tropical Africa from Cameroon in the west through Equatorial Guinea (Bioko), Gabon, Congo, and Zaire to Uganda in the east.
Polystachya caloglossa also called as The Beautiful Lipped Polystachya, Dendrorchis caloglossa, Polystachya excelsa, Polystachya rolfeana, is a species of the genus Polystachya. This species was described by Heinrich Gustav Reichenbach in 1881.
IDENTIFY POLYSTACHYA CALOGLOSSA ORCHID PLANT
Polystachya caloglossa is found at 1520 m on Mt. Cameroon in western Cameroon. It is now known to occur in forests at 900-1520 m across tropical Africa from Cameroon in the west through Equatorial Guinea (Bioko), Gabon, Congo, and Zaire to Uganda in the east.
It is a miniature to medium sized, up to 70 cm tall, warm to cool growing epiphyte with clustered, terete pseudobulbs enveloped basally in youth by 1 to 3, tubular, obtuse sheaths and carrying 4 to 5, apical, obovate to oblanceolate, acute, obscurely unequally bilobed apically, undulate marginally, 5-19 cm long, 2.5-6.5 cm wide leaves.
The Beautiful Lipped Polystachya blooms in the fall on an erect, racemose to 5 branched, short branched, 4 to 12 cm long, glabrous, compressed inflorescence with a few color variable flowers. The flowers are medium-sized, yellow, apricot, reddish-green, ovary red or purple.
POLYSTACHYA CALOGLOSSA ORCHID PLANT 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:
Polystachya caloglossa needs a light level of 18000-25000 lux. Light should be filtered or diffused, and plants should not be exposed to direct midday sun. Strong air movement should be provided at all times.
Temperature:
Summer days temperature at average 24-25°C, and nights average 16°C, with a diurnal range of 9°C. The coolest temperatures and smallest diurnal ranges of the year occur in summer during the rainy season.
Humidity:
The Beautiful Lipped Polystachya need the humidity of 80-85% from late spring into autumn, dropping rapidly to 55-60% in winter.
Substrate, growing media and repotting:
Polystachya caloglossa may be grown in relatively small pots or baskets filled with an open, fast-draining medium that retains some moisture after watering. The medium should become somewhat dry between waterings, however. The standard fir-bark mixes using medium-sized bark work well for many growers.
Plants may also be mounted tightly to a tree-fern slab. If mounted, however, high humidity must be maintained and the plants watered at least once daily in summer. Several waterings a day may be necessary for mounted plants during extremely hot, dry weather.
These orchids appear to grow better when allowed to form large clumps, so they should be divided as little as possible. Repotting, mounting, or dividing should be done only when new root growth is just starting. This allows the plant to become reestablished in the shortest possible time with the least amount of stress.
Watering:
Rainfall is heavy to very heavy from spring to early autumn. Amounts then decrease rapidly with 2-3 very dry months in winter. Cultivated plants should be watered often while actively growing, but drainage should be excellent and conditions around the roots should not remain wet and never be allowed to become stale or soggy. Water should be greatly reduced in late autumn after new growths have matured.
Fertilizer:
1/4-1/2 recommended strength, applied weekly when plants are actively growing. You can use a balanced fertilizer throughout the year, but also can use a high-nitrogen fertilizer from spring to midsummer, then switch to a high-phosphate formula in late summer and autumn.
Rest period:
Winter days temperature average 29°C, and nights average 15-16°C, with a diurnal range of 13-14°C. Water should be greatly reduced for Polystachya caloglossa in winter, limited to occasional early morning mistings between very infrequent light waterings. Fertilizer should be eliminated until new growth starts and heavier watering is resumed in spring.
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