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The Odontoglossum Story
Odontoglossum
cirrhosum
Odontoglossum have been found difficult to grow under artificial cultivation,
as they require conditions entirely different from those of most greenhouse
orchids.
Seldom found at an elevation of less than 5000 feet, they need shade, air,
and moisture without being chilled. They are so showy and lovely, in respect
to both plant-pseudobulbous and crisply serrated flowers, that it is well worth
the effort to study their native environment and supply conditions to make
them happy.
The plants are small, compact, evergreen, sympodial, and epiphytic, and the
flowers are borne along tall, curving spikes. The species are many, varied,
and all beautiful. The genus is noted for its many fine natural hybrids.
It crosses readily with Miltonia to form Odontonia, considered by many growers
an improvement on the parents because of the larger flowers and greater ease
of growth. It also hybridizes freely with Oncidium to form Odontocidium.
Not for the beginner nor the faint-of-heart.
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