Barkeria
Barkeria orchids are beautiful relatives of Epidendrum and Cattleya. Most have bright purple flowers. They grow as epiphytes, with long, canelike pseudobulbs and thin, attractive leaves. The plants have long roots that like to be open to the air; they should be grown mounted, though they will rapidly grow off of the slab of bark and make a big cloud of leaves, stems, and roots out in the air. The plants come from Mexico.
Bark. skinneri
Image courtesy of orchidgalore
Distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.
Humidity in their natural habitat is 70-80% year-round. You can get by with somewhat less in cultivation, but that's what the plants prefer and they seem to care about it.
They generally prefer intermediate light, about 2000 footcandles. If you grow orchids indoors, this means a bright east window or a slightly-shaded south window, in the northern hemisphere.
Intermediate temperatures work best, though they aren't particularly fussy. Try to provide daytime temperatures of 70-80°F (21-27C), cooling by about 15°F (8C) at night.