Just a couple days ago, I was showing someone around the greenhouse and I noticed the swelling flowerbuds hanging from this plant ... I figured it would be soon, but not too soon.

Surprise!  Two days later, I walked into the greenhouse to see this flock of huge, fragrant flowers under the basket.

I had thought that this plant was actually a coryanthes - some label mix-up years ago has left me not really knowing which plant is which in the stanhopea/coryanthes collection.  I am afraid that I have far fewer species than I think I do, and I am also afraid that coryanthes has become extinct at this point in Albert's greenhouse.

Anyway, these are some of my favorite orchids - they are not difficult to grow and have huge, fragrant blossoms.  The flowers are actually very stiff and waxy in texture.  They are pollinated in nature by little iridescent bees, which use the fragrant oils from the flowers to attract mates.