TROPICAL PITCHER PLANT

Also called monkey cup, Nepenthes gymnamphora needs bright indirect light, filtered or rain water, high hum edit and an occasional frozen cricket, thawed of course. Cricket Yep, this is a carnivorous plant. The elongated cups, hanging from the vining stems like pendants, are slick inside so insects fall haplessly into the liquid at the base where they drown and are slowly digested.

CERATOSTEMA

Another neotropcal blueberry native to Ecuador with glossy foliage and brilliant red tubular flowers that bloom in fall and winter. Like the Madeania above, Ceratostema silvicola is an epiphyte, growing on the branches of other plants. To mimic this, the tropical blueberries at ABG are grown in oversize slatted hanging baskets so visitors can admire the brightly colored perdant blooms.

A NEOTROPICAL BLUEBERRY

Found only in the mountains cf western Ecuador where it is endangered due to deforestation, Maclesnia pentaptera is a large epiphytic shrub with arching branches more than feet long, i hough related to our familiar blueberries, the edible, sometimes-sweet fruits are whitish green rather than dark purple. Like other members of the heath family, it prefers acidic, peaty soil. Its bright-orange flowers are hummingbird favorites.

EPIDENDRUM ORCHID

FLowering several times a year with sprays of small orange flowers, Epidendrum embreei, native to Ecuador and Colunbia, belongs to one of the largest orchid genera. The leaves, whichcantakeona reddish tinge in bright light, are spaced out along reed-shaped stemlike structures, reaching 3 to 4 feet tall. In the humid, cool, mountainous forests where it grows wild, it can be found perched in a tree or growing in the grcund on rocky hillsides.

MASDEVALLIA ORCHID

Of the thousands of orchids found in cloud forests, one of the most unusual genera is Masdevallia, with its distinctive tricornered flowe's sporting "tails" at the sepal tips. One of the larger species, found in the Andes of Peru, Masclevattia veitchiana is rumo'ed to have been cultivated by the Incas, with sizzling orange flowers covered in tiny purple hairs, giving it an iridescent shimmer. Masdevallias require cool temperatures and aren't for beginners, but once you've got the knack, they can be rewarding greenhouse or terrariums plants.