Plant Find: Pleurothallis stricta

The Oklahoma Orchid Society (of which I am now a member) hosted their annual orchid show in Oklahoma City this last weekend. I visited on Saturday and really enjoyed the show. The exhibits were excellent with lots of orchids I thought I had never seen before.  Of course, I got home and was looking through my pictures from last year's show and found that several plants that seemed entirely new to me I had actually photographed last year, as well...

Pleurothallis stricta

These shows are just so over stimulating with so many different orchids to see that it is really hard to take them all in.  I try to mix simple enjoyment with snapping tons of pictures so that I can even further enjoy the orchids more later when I have more time to sit down and look through all of the different plants.  After I have a chance to sort through my pictures and eliminate the less than great ones, I'll post a photo album.

Pleurothallis stricta blooms

There were not very many vendors at the sale this year, but those that were there were really great.  I spent quite a while talking with a man from Prairie Orchids, out of Kansas.  I ended up purchasing a small Pleurothallis stricta from him and I really like the plant a lot.  It has really interesting little blooms (picture above) - and I mean these are really quite tiny.

Pleurothallis stricta. Front and center is a leaf with finished bloom stalk. To the left is a keiki (new plant) forming from the center of another leaf.

The blooming stems emerge from the center of the leaves (see picture above), which is very different from any of my current orchids.  Also, the new leaves are a really pretty red.  They emerge folded in half and then pull apart into a really glossy bronzy red that eventually turns dark green.

Pleurothallis stricta new bronze leaf unfolding

Pleurothallis stricta new bronze leaf

This is a neat plant and I hope I can keep it happy.  It appears to bloom pretty continuously since the blooms are born on the constantly emerging leaves.

Pleurothallis are among some of the tiniest orchids in the world.  Speaking of tiny orchids, I ran across a picture last week of one of the world's smallest orchid blooms.  The picture shows a toothpick for size comparison.  The bloom is so small the toothpick looks like a large piece of lumber!  Check it out! Thankfully the blooms of my Pleurothallis are large enough to enjoy.