pansy orchid
Miltonia Lindl.
A genus overview; characteristics vary between its species.
Miltonia orchids grow on other plants, forming tufts or spreading along a rhizome rather than rooting in ordinary ground. Their name honors Viscount Milton, a nineteenth-century patron of horticulture and natural history. The plants carry a succession of thickened shoots, with flowers emerging from the side of a pseudobulb. American Orchid Society: Miltoniavan den Berg: Miltonia, Flora do Brasil 2020
Botanical name
Miltonia is an accepted orchid genus. This account follows its modern Brazilian-centered circumscription, rather than combining it with the separate genus Miltoniopsis. Kew: Miltonia
Recognizing the plant
The pseudobulbs may be elongated and green or yellow-green, oval and strongly flattened from side to side. Leaves arise both near their bases and at their tips. Flowering shoots usually form simple racemes, although a few species bear single flowers or branched sprays. Sepals and petals can be white, pink, purple, green or ochre, sometimes marked with spots. The prominent lip is generally broad and nearly flat, with a small raised callus near its base; in Miltonia candida it instead curves around the column. The pollen is packaged into two pollinia. van den Berg: Miltonia, Flora do Brasil 2020
Native range
The native range lies in South America, extending from Brazil through Paraguay to northeastern Argentina. Kew: Miltonia
Botanical sources
Reviewed 2026-10-11. Seasonal development varies with location and growing conditions.