Lycaste aromatica is a species of flowering plant in the Orchidaceae family. All the representatives of thr genus Lycaste(a total of about 35 species )are very alike when not in bloom, and quite attractive ,too:they form large ,glossy green egg-shaped pseudobulbs decorated on their apices with two or three pointed elliptic leaves with pronounced lengthwise venation. The leaves usually last for one season only ,and subsequently fall off. The typical flowers ,whose inner tepals are shaped to resemble a little roof,grow one by one on thin spikes from the base of the pseudobulbs and there can be several dozens of them growing at once on well-developed specimens of some species! L. aromatica is the best known species of the whole genus . Its orange-and- yellow flowers give off a strong ,lovely grance. Cultivation is not difficult : provide the plants with a temperate environment with a medium -high- intensity of diffused light . If you want them to flower abundantly ,plant them in flowerpots filled with a standard orchid substrate . In the winter ,after the leaves fall off ,reduce watering and temperature ,inducing thus a period of rest;this is also necessary for proper development of the next season's lot of flowers . L. aromatica blooms in early spring-both in artificial culture and in the wild, i.e., in Mexico , Guatemala and Honduras.
