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Species library › Dracula › Dracula polyphemus
Orchids Well documented

Dracula polyphemus

A cloud-forest Dracula from the western Andean slopes of northern Ecuador (Imbabura and Pichincha), named by Luer. Like its relatives it needs cool, constantly moist, shady conditions, and its flowers hang downward, so it is grown in open baskets.

Dracula polyphemus
Photo: Orchi, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
At home, aim for
Day IntermediateTargets in Plantistry
Night Close to the dayTargets in Plantistry
Humidity Very humid airBand in Plantistry
Light ShadeDLI and PPFD in Plantistry
No rest periodGrows on trees (epiphyte)

Where it grows wild

Collected in Imbabura and Pichincha, including along the old Chiriboga road between Quito and Santo Domingo, in wet montane cloud forest where Dracula species grow on mossy trunks in deep shade.

Recorded at 1400–2000 m, mostly around 1900–2000 m.

Ecuador

🔒 Growing it like that

The wild conditions above, turned into targets for a shelf, a tent or a greenhouse. The full profile has:

✓ Day and night temperature targets, and the limits it tolerates
✓ Humidity band, and how to hold it
✓ Light as DLI and PPFD for a grow light
✓ Wet and dry seasons, and whether to rest it
✓ Substrate and airflow
✓ A step-by-step setup to grow it like the wild

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Profiles are drafts built from measured range and climate and from published sources; each section carries its own confidence in the app. Photo from Wikimedia Commons, used under its CC BY-SA 3.0 licence, unmodified.