Species library › Masdevallia › Masdevallia cupularis
Orchids Well documented

Masdevallia cupularis

Masdevallia cupularis (Reichenbach f., 1866) is a small Costa Rican cloud-forest species with tiny cup-shaped flowers, recorded at 850-2200 m in the Cordillera Central and Talamanca. It grows cool, with nights near 12 C, high humidity and a gentle dry spell from January to April.

Masdevallia cupularis
Photo: Florence H. Woolward (illustrator); B.S. Marquess of Lothian (editors), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
At home, aim for
Day IntermediateTargets in Plantistry
Night Close to the dayTargets in Plantistry
Humidity Humid airBand in Plantistry
Light Dappled lightDLI and PPFD in Plantistry
No rest periodGrows on trees (epiphyte)

Where it grows wild

Epiphyte on mossy branches in wet montane cloud forest of central Costa Rica, in the mist belt around the Poas and Talamanca ranges.

Eleven records with elevations span 850-2200 m, median 1950 m.

Costa RicaAlajuelaCartago

🔒 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

Grow Masdevallia cupularis? Add it to a free garden and its full profile opens. Pro opens all 38,374 profiles in the library, plants and fungi.

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 Public domain licence, unmodified.