Here is the plant, it's got several older tubes and new green leaves sprouting that will eventually become tubes. I took this about a week ago when the bloom stalk was just unfolding.



3 or 4 days ago, the blooms were starting to open and this pic you can see the base a little better.



a close up of the bloom taken today.

Beautiful! I'd love to know the name.

So would I! It's not anything I've seen before. Is it indigenous to Mexico?

I don't know, I kind of doubt it but I have no idea. There are lots of them, I have another one still in a pot as I haven't decided where to put it. They need full sun which I have in short supply.

I should post it over on the orchid forum and see if anyone knows about it.

Please do!

I've not seen a ground orchid like that. It's gorgeous. The only ones we have here are purple and a few that are white.

Kathy over on the orchid forum has identified it, great work! It is Cyrtopodium punctatum and is native from the tip of southern Florida down through the Caribbean, Yucatan and the tropical regions of south America. It is native to this area so I will need to let it dry out in the winter more than I have. Still, it seems to like the area it is in, next to my pond and on a rocky shelf with only about a foot of soil thus great drainage. One of the common names for it is the Cigar Orchid, which makes a lot of sense looking at those pseudo bulbs. It loses all of its leaves in winter, leaving just the cigar bulbs and sprouts new ones from the base in the spring along with the bloom spike.

I'm thrilled to know what it is and what it likes. I guess I will go and add it to the plant database.

Great idea! Glad you found a name for it too!