taken in my greenhouse; first time it flowers after 14 years! The Monja Blanca, known as the White Nun Orchid in English, is the National Flower of Guatemala. If you look closely at the center of the flower, you?ll see where this pure white bloom gets its name: the stamen and pistils of the flower are fused together, creating a column which resembles a nun bent in prayer. The Monja Blanca?s scientific name is Lycaste skinneri alba. It is actually an albino variant of the pink Lycaste skinneri, and is very rare. The flower is one of the 35,000 species that form the orchid family, and is an epiphyte, which means that, although it grows on another plant (often a tree), it doesn?t harm it in any way. The plant possesses a pseudo-bulb, common with most orchids, which is characterized by a thickening of the stem that serves to store water and allows the plant survive in less-than-ideal conditions. The Monja Blanca also possesses a specialized petal in the center, called the lip, which creates a landing space for the insects that pollinate the flower. The Monja Blanca is a hermaphroditic plant. Inside a capsule within the flower, millions of seeds are produced. The embryos inside the seeds require a certain fungus to germinate. Because of this, there is a low proliferation rate for this plant. Adding to the rarity of the Monja Blanca, the orchid doesn?t flower for the first fifteen years of its life; after that, it goes on to flower every year between November and April. The Monja Blanca is mainly found in the northwest region of Guatemala, particularly in the Verapaces (especially in the department of Alta Verapaz), but it is also possible to find it growing in Mexico, El Salvador, and Honduras. It pref