Mystacidium gracile

This cute angraecoid orchid has a pleasant spicy nocturnal fragrance. It is native to Zimbabwe and to the South African provinces of Eastern Cape, Kwa-Zulu Natal and the province formerly known as Transvaal which was more recently divided into three provinces, Gauteng, Limpopo and Mpumalanga. I don't know if it is native to all three or not. I grow this warm [34°C max, 18°C min (93°F, 65°F)], bright (2500fc) and humid (85%+ rh), but Andy Phillips grows his outdoors in Encinitas, CA (with exposure to winter rain even!).

This year most of the spikes blasted (removed before these photos were taken) because I didn't realise that they were in the draughty path of my newly installed cooling system. Thankfully I moved the plant into a calmer spot and was able to at least keep a few spikes going. I look forward to a better show next year. Another rather funny thing is that not all the flowers appear resupinate this year. As with so many of the species that I grow under lights, the inflorescences grow more vertically (directly up to the light source above) than they would in a greenhouse with light coming from more than one angle. As the inflorescences developed, they didn't really begin to arch until the flowers had become mature and heavy enough. This species does have resupinate flowers, but not all flowers along a single inflorescence all got to turn the same way before the peduncle 'fell over' (arched down), resulting in some flowers upside-down and others right-side up.

I mounted two clones together.

 

Thanks everyone!

Kitty, I think Andy is currently the only US source.