Guest Author - Karen Stewart

I did not realize that there was an orchid named Dracula until I starting researching a possible tie-in between Orchids and Halloween. This unusual orchid family comes mainly from Ecuador and Colombia and really has nothing to do with that guy from Transylvania.

The name Dracula comes from the Latin word meaning "little dragon". This genus of plants was once included as part of the Masdevallia genus but was split off into a separate group in 1978. The blooms are an unusual triangular shape, often fuzzy or hairy with distinctive patterns on the petals. The small size of the plants makes them popular subjects for growing in under artificial lights.

The cultural requirements of the Dracula family are not the easiest to meet for every orchid grower. In general, these plants are happiest in a cool to intermediate temperature with a relative humidity reading between 60 and 90 percent. They also like to be constantly moist and provided with filtered sunlight. Constant ventilation is also a must to keep that humidity circulating. For most of us, these conditions can only be met in a greenhouse or some sort of enclosed growing case.

Watering and fertilizing are important as well. The plants should be constantly moist without allowing the roots and media to become soggy. Dracula has very limited fertilizer needs and the leaf tips will turn black if they are treated with a heavy hand.

Repotting is usually done in the fall or early spring before the onset of the summer's heat. Varieties of Dracula that send their inflorescence downward should be potted up in slatted wooden baskets to allow the flowers to open properly. A mix of fine bark or tree form is normally used, but moss is also popular to aid the potting mix in retaining moisture.

Some of the more commonly grown species of Dracula are the D. bella, D. cordobae and D. bella.