Another day when my group was out tramping around in the burning heat with their 500m lenses and I opted for a walk in the woods. The only price I paid was listening to a few more strange conspiracy theories from the gentleman who led me to the orchid. I could not believe my eyes when I saw this orchid growing on a tree that looked exactly like the set-ups in the New York flower show. All that bark and moss etc. really exists and these things really do flower that way; in the jungle, wet and dark with a single ray of sunlight.
This is the habitat that produces this astonishing spectacle, out of all the wet green comes this startling white, yellow and magenta blossom.
Catteleya Orchid growing wild in Brazilian Atlantic Rainforest. The only other place I've seen this orchid is in the Orchid Show at the Botanical Gardens in New York.see them living wild in a natural environment. I get giddy knowing that orchids actually get to be a part of nature and not just a plant at the supermarket. That is unfair, that is how I got my orchids, but still it is wonderful to see them in their own environment.