Don’t Worry—This Gothic Orchid Won’t Suck Your Blood

If you’ve ever been to an orchid exhibition or to a tropical botanical garden, you might’ve been lucky enough to catch a glimpse at one of the creepiest and coolest orchids out there: the dracula vampira. 

Dracula vampira (Eric Hunt, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons)

In fact, dracula is a whole genus of orchids, comprising 90 different species. And no, they don’t grow in Transylvania—they hail from the humid forests of Ecuador and Western Colombia, and they can be found as far north as Mexico and as far south as Peru. Until 1978, dracula orchids were included in the genus masdevallia, which is a type I’ll write about in a forthcoming post (RIP to my one and only masdevallia). 

Most dracula orchids prefer slightly cooler temperatures than other common orchids. Dracula orchids prefer bright, indirect light, similar to the dappled or filtered sunlight that would reach them through a tree canopy. Like many other orchids, they’re epiphytes, which means they grow and hang from the sides of trees. 

Dracula hirtzii luer (sunoochi from Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

Their evolutionary history has given them some common characteristics, including thin, pointy, grassy leaves, which allows them to wedge and grow inside of tree nooks and dangle their blooms down the side of the tree. The shape and colors of these flowers vary, but many of them have evolved to resemble mushroom caps, because the insects that pollinate them also feed on tree mushrooms. 

Dracula orchids require higher humidity (70-75 percent) and more frequently watering (sometimes as much as once a day in the summer) than most orchids, because they don’t have water-retaining pseudobulbs or the thicker aerial roots that phalaenopsis orchids have. They’re particularly sensitive to chemicals and salts in the water, so rain or distilled water is recommended. It’s important to prevent them from drying out, which means frequently watering and a potting medium made primarily of something like sphagnum moss that retains moisture. At orchid shows, I’ve seen dracula orchids mounting on wood planks, often with moss. They’re generally not very heavy feeders, so light fertilizing every month or so will suffice. 

Dracula vampira orchids in the Mindo Nambillo Cloud Forest Reserve, Andreas Kay via Flickr (CC BY-NC-SA-2.0)

The show-stopping (or show-starting) dracula vampira orchid sports black blooms (of course) and come from the Ecuadorian cloud forests. The vampire dracula orchid enjoys cooler temperatures (between 68-78 degrees Fahrenheit during the day and 50-55 degrees Fahrenheit at night) and typically blooms during the U.S. winter, with spikey flowers shaped like those of other dracula orchids. 

I haven’t had the nerve to purchase one of these orchids yet, especially after my short-lived experience with a masdevallia. While dracula orchids don’t suck blood, they could still suck the life out of me (and my wallet) if I don’t know how to make them happy. I wonder if putting them in little capes would help?