Orchid species have evolved some amazing colours to attract their pollinators and Cochlioda noezliana (also known as Oncidium noezlianum) is one of the most arresting with the bright scarlet flowers tinged with violet and yellow around the column.

We have recently split a large specimen and have lots of plants flowering this week – we will offer it in the online shop from June when we are sure that plants are established and growing well. The flower spikes will be cut off next next week so that the plants can concentrate on growing.

Cochlioda noezliana a startling scarlet species from the cloud forests of Colombia that has been a major influence on orchid breeding since its discovery. It is the orchid species behind the red in many of the red orchids hybrids sold around the world today in the Oncidineae subtribe.

The glowing colour is there to attract humming birds and we have lots of humming bird pollinated species in flower this week including Masdevallia veitchiana and Cattleya coccinea (photos below for comparison). The other lovely pollination feature in Cochlioda noezliana is the two yellow beak guides on the lip to help the pollinating bird find the nectar.

This species has a reputation as not the easiest to grow, but we find it straight forward if you stick to the cool moist conditions of its cloud forest home (our cool Americas section) where it is found from 2000-3500m altitude.