Pleurothallis cordata. Found throughout Colombia, in the coastal ranges of Venezuela and the Andes Mountain Range of Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia in wet montane cloud forests at around 1900-9500 ft. The flowers are variable including yellow, solid brown, red-brown, yellow dorsal with brown lip/petals and yellow segments with brown spots. This one is half and half. It grows great in the shade and tolerates nice damp feet. In nature it is found growing terrestrially, epiphytically and lythophytically (i.e., grows just about anywhere if there's enough moisture). I can only imagine that it is pollinated by some beetle along the forest floor that thinks it is the cat's meow...or perhaps a mate! I didn't try smelling it as it admittedly did not look like it would smell particularly nice. Hmmm, what kind of smells are beetles attracted to? [Did you know that water lillies are pollinated by beetles?]
