Name: Lepanthes tentaculata Luer & Hirtz
Etymology: tentaculata = tentacle-like / provided with tentacles — refers to the extremely elongated, thread-like appendages of the inner petals.
First description: 1996 by American botanists Carlyle A. Luer and Alexander C. Hirtz in Monographs in Systematic Botany from the Missouri Botanical Garden (61(3): 167).
Origin / Distribution: Ecuador (Esmeraldas Province).
Location / Habitat: Growing epiphytically in moist, tropical cloud and lowland rainforests at lower elevations of around 750 meters. It thrives there in the shaded undergrowth with year-round very high humidity and consistently warm temperatures.
Description & Notes: Lepanthes tentaculata is a spectacular miniature orchid with upright shoots enveloped by 7 to 9 finely hairy (pubescent) lepanthiform sheaths. Like its close relative Lepanthes calodictyon, it has beautiful, almost circular, delicate leaves with a striking, dark net-like venation (reticulation) and wavy margins. The tiny flowers appear sequentially on delicate inflorescences. It differs from L. calodictyon primarily by the extremely long appendages of the petals that give it its name, as well as a tiny, heart-shaped lip below the column.

Since, unlike most highland Lepanthes, it comes from warm lowland cloud forests, this rarity requires a warm to at most intermediate culture (no cool cultivation). Due to its tiny stature, spectacular leaf markings, and need for consistently high humidity (over 80%), it is an absolute dream plant for permanent cultivation in warm, moist terrariums and display cases. Ideally, it is grown in shade and mounted on cork with a permanently moist moss base, with gentle, continuous air movement being essential.

In vitro culture: You will receive a bottle with 4 young plants. The plants are usually already large enough to be bottled. After opening, very carefully remove the nutrient medium from the delicate roots with lukewarm water and place the young plants on moist sphagnum or in a very fine, airy substrate. During the first few weeks, we recommend very high humidity, warm to intermediate temperatures, protected light, and gentle, continuous air movement. Keep the young plants constantly slightly moist and never let them dry out completely.