Name: Gongora aceras Dressler
Etymology: Gongora = named in honor of Antonio Caballero y Góngora, a Spanish bishop and viceroy of New Granada; aceras = without horns (Greek a- = without, keras = horn — referring to the absence of horn-like projections on the lip).
First described: 1971 by Robert Louis Dressler in Orquideología (6: 70).
Origin / Distribution: Ecuador and Colombia.
Location / Habitat: Growing epiphytically in very moist, warm-intermediate to wet-warm montane cloud forests and rainforests of the Andes at elevations of approx. 500 to 1,500 meters. It colonizes moss-covered tree trunks and thick main branches in the shaded understory.
Description & Notes: Gongora aceras is a medium to robust epiphyte with strongly longitudinally ribbed, ovate pseudobulbs, each bearing two large, folded, broadly lanceolate leaves at the apex. The long, whip-like inflorescence grows steeply downwards through the substrate and produces numerous upside-down (resupinate) flowers. The flowers have a characteristic waxy-fleshy texture in yellow to orange and reddish-brown tones with fine speckling. The most important identifying feature is the lip, which lacks the lateral basal horns typical of other Gongora species. The flowers emit an intense, spicy fragrance.

In cultivation, the species absolutely requires care in slat baskets or hanging baskets so that the pendulous inflorescences can emerge unhindered. It requires warm-intermediate conditions year-round, shaded to partial shade lighting conditions, and very high humidity (over 70–80%). The substrate (e.g., medium pine bark with some Sphagnum moss) should be kept constantly moist during the active growing phase and never allowed to dry out completely.