{"id":43871,"date":"2023-07-07T16:05:38","date_gmt":"2023-07-08T00:05:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/?p=43871"},"modified":"2023-07-15T19:45:04","modified_gmt":"2023-07-16T03:45:04","slug":"a-legendary-masdevallia-orchid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/2023\/07\/07\/a-legendary-masdevallia-orchid\/","title":{"rendered":"A Legendary Masdevallia Orchid"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Masdevallia<\/a>\"Masdevallia<\/a>\"Masdevallia<\/a><\/p>\n

It only takes one look at this orchid to understand why it’s nicknamed the King of the Masdevallias<\/a>, and is considered a national treasure of Peru. I bought this plant at last winter’s Pacific Orchid Expo<\/a>, and was thrilled when it recently opened its first bloom, a brilliant orange flower with tiny purple hairs which glisten in the sun. My photos don’t do it justice.<\/p>\n

\"Masdevallia<\/a>\"Masdevallia<\/a>\"Masdevallia<\/a><\/p>\n

Masdevallia veitchiana<\/em> is native to the high Andes of Peru, including the cloud forests of Machu Picchu<\/a>. It’s called gallo-gallo<\/em> in Spanish, and waqanki<\/em> in Quechua<\/a>. The Incas cultivated this species, and venerated it in a legend. I’ve read several versions of the story, which revolves around an Incan princess who fell in love with a soldier. Her father forbid her to marry him, and these flowers grew where her tears fell. In Quechua, waqanki<\/em> means “you will cry.”<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Masdevallia<\/a>\"Masdevallia<\/a>\"Masdevallia<\/a><\/p>\n

The King of the Masdevallias lives up to 13,000 feet (4000 m) in the Andes. In its native habitat, it can handle warm days, but wants a big temperature<\/a> drop at night, often swinging from 40\u00b0F to 80\u00b0F (4.4\u00b0C to 26.7\u00b0C) daily. Unlike other Masdevallias<\/a>, it prefers full morning sun<\/a>. Mine is growing outdoors<\/a> with sun-loving Cymbidiums<\/a>, Dendrobiums<\/a>, and Epidendrums<\/a>, rather than with its shade-loving pleurothallid<\/a> cousins. Regular watering<\/a>, constant high humidity, and good air flow<\/a> are essential. With luck, I can keep my plant happy, and coax more blooms from this legendary orchid.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It only takes one look at this orchid to understand why it’s nicknamed the King of the Masdevallias, and is considered a national treasure of Peru. I bought this plant at last winter’s Pacific Orchid Expo, and was thrilled when it recently opened its first bloom, a brilliant orange flower with tiny purple hairs which […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,3,6,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43871","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cool-growers","category-growing","category-photos","category-watering"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43871","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43871"}],"version-history":[{"count":49,"href":"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43871\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43958,"href":"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43871\/revisions\/43958"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43871"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43871"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43871"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}