Thursday, November 11, 2010

Maxillaria tenuifolia

Know as the coconut orchid for its scent - it smells exactly like fresh coconut - Maxillaria tenuifolia is from Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica.  It is easy to grow and a common orchid in collections, often growing into very large clumps with hundreds of flowers.


Because it grows into a large specimen plant so quickly it is an orchid I no longer grow.  The plant itself, however, is very reasonably sized, with 3-4 cm flat pseudobulbs and a single narrow, 20-25 cm leaf at the top of the pseudobulb.  The 4-5 cm flowers arise from the base of the pseudobulbs.

The genus name, Maxillaria, refers to the jaw-like base of the lip in this species and other larger-flowered species in the genus.  The species name, tenuifolia, refers to the narrow, grass-like foliage of the plant.  It is an attractive plant with large and beautiful flowers.


6 comments:

  1. Hi Ron...

    Nice shots! You have very healthy plant, I have this species, but it's cannot flower at my garden. The plant looks healthy, but still don't want to flower, i just let go this plant to my friend.

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  2. Thanks, friend. I never found this species difficult to grow or bloom, but maybe conditions are different out your way.

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  3. Thanks for the comments...I think so...maybe the condition is not suitable for 'flowering' just nice to be healthy.

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  4. This is in my opinion, one of the easiest orchids to grow.

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  5. I've run into the same situation with my plant not wanting to flower. So there must be 1 in 1000 plants with a reluctant flowering habit and we maybe got these lol. Plenty of other cooperating orchids in my collection to keep me occupied.

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  6. I no longer have this plant. It's just a bit too large for my set-up. I do miss it, however, especially its wonderful scent.

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