Odontocidium Everglades Elegance ‘Nancy Lee’

This has to be one of my favourite orchids.  Nice big fat pseudo bulbs with lime green foliage producing bolt upright spikes carrying 100 plus flowers in a big feather duster like display.  Another Oncidium intergeneric that will spot flower almost year round, but does tend to mostly flower from late January to April in our climate.  One very appealing aspect of the flower spike is the habit of all the side branches to be upright beside the main stem, giving the overall flower spike this feather duster type of display.  This is very different from most branching flower spikes where the side branches will go out 90 degrees from the main stem to give a pine tree type of display, commonly seen in the Wildcat grex.

The first thing that strikes you when you first see this orchid is just how chunky it is.  The pseudo bulbs are big, fat and round like a softball (see photo).  The flower spikes when they first start growing are like big fat asparagus spears and are well suited to holding the flower spike upright even after all the flowers have opened (see photo where none of the spikes are staked).  Surprisingly the roots are also quite large and thick for the Oncidium intergeneric group.  So when you pick up this orchid it feels solid.

The foliage is a lime green even when regularly fertilised, so never expect dark green foliage with this orchid.  Flower spikes range between 700 to 1200mm in height.  The specimen in the photos is currently growing in a 150mm pot.