Monolena dressleri

Description

Native to: Panama

Monolena dressleri is our favorite species of the genus and one we rarely see offered for sale. It is the slowest growing Monolena that we work with but also the most rewarding, especially when it blooms with its white, short lived flowers. The leaves are olive green to copper to deep green with the bright red/deep pink underside and stems, and a more round shaped than some species. New leaves start off with a tint of the red of the underside. The leaves have reached about 5″ long on the specimen we have been growing for 3 and a half years in our vivarium. It took us 2 years before it finally produced viable seeds, though it had bloomed a few other times before that. This species may look similar to Monolena sp. ‘Ecuador’ or ‘Dark Ecuador’, but it’s stayed much smaller. Also, the flowers on our M. dressleri are white, while all our other Monolena species produce flowers with pink margins (M. primuliflora, wendlandii, and sp. ‘Ecuador’). We like to plant Monolena species on the floor of our vivaria, but they actually grow epiphytically in the wild.

As this species is particularly temperamental when disturbed, we only guarantee healthy arrival of the caudex under our healthy arrival guarantee policy. Monolena species can be very finicky when adapting to a new environment. They may drop foliage during shipping or when transplanted, but under the right condition (lots of moisture!), they will put out new leaves again.