Orquidea mariposa

Found in Central America as a large sized, hot ot warm growing epiphyte that occurs on living or rotten tree trunks in dense tropical forests at elevations of 400 to 1000 meters and is a deciduous plant with cylindric-fusiform, slightly compressed pseudobulbs with 5 to 6 elliptic or linear-lanceolate, scute to acuminate, membraneous leaves that are articulated to the basal leaf sheaths that blooms in the summer on a several flowered, 12" [30 cm] long, racemose, pendant inflorescence with the waxy, long-lasting, fragrant flowers arise from the leaf nodes at the apex of the newest, mature, leafless pseudobulb. These are commonly called the swan orchid because of the look of the arched column. These flowers are sexually dimorphic and as such, each sex has a different appearance. This plant was first described in 1837 by Bateman in his book Orchidaceae of Mexico and Guatemala. These orchids are extremely fragrant and the flowers are quite showy but unfortunately they are short lived. After blooming in the late summer they need a definite rest with no water or fertilizer until the new growth appears in March. Some growers actually pull it from it's pot, cut all it's roots and put it in an area that gets no light. This procedure is necessary to alleviate basal root rot.