The pendulant spike can reach 25cm long and contain up to ten flowers. The flowers have a very strong fragrance, with some very spicy smelling. Although the flowers are short lived, several inflorescences are usually produced yearly. These marvels of the orchid family naturally range from Mexico to Brazil and are really very easy to cultivate in your collections if you can provide their needs.
Another very strange fact about these orchids is the way they are pollinated. Male euglossine bees pollinate the large flowers. Two species of euglossine bees, Euglossa meriana and Euglossa cordata, have been known as the "orchid bees." They are attracted to the flowers by the pungent perfume that the flowers produce. These flowers are incredible works of nature in their forms with complex structures for pollination. These orchids have created a mechanism by which they attract the bees with their scent and then trap and release them. They have "paths" that guide the insects to the very spot that is needed for pollination. The way these flowers are made the bee is attracted to the flowers, and stops for a nibble of nectar the flower produces. The bee usually ends up falling into the long beak-like column. The only way for the bee to escape is to climb along a narrow path located just below the anther and the stigma of the column. When the bee finally escapes he has the pollinia attached firmly to his back right between his wings by the male anther. The dumb bee then visits another flower and starts the routine all over again only this time when he escapes he unknowingly transfers the pollinia he has been carrying around with him to the female stigma thus pollinating the flower. The flowers are short lived which may be why they are so intricate in detail to insure pollination.
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