Chuck, the plant you've seen (a lithophytic species with very small round pseudobulbs and small white flowers with some purple veining on the lip) probably isn't D. gregulus.
D. gregulus is an epiphytic species (tree branches in open deciduous forest) with small onion-shaped pseudobulbs, deciduous leaves and sulphur yellow flowers with red-purple marks on the epichile. The reason I asked was that a number of small-bulbed deciduous Dendrobiums in section Stachyobium surfaced in Chatukchai market in January this year. The collector contacted me because he wanted a name for his plants. According to the him, they came from either Kanburi province, or just over the border in Myanmar. I haven't laid my hands on any of the plants, but the photos I was sent showed a series of plants, none of which matched any known species. I told the collector that he had one or more undescribed species with a relationship to either D. gregulus or D. garrettii. I wouldn't be at all surprised if these Dendrobiums have gone on sale using these names, but none of the photos I saw matches your description. In Opera Botanica 83 (1985), Seidenfaden gave details of all the known species in this group, but none of these match your description, either. The closest are D. garrettii, (non-deciduous, sepals and petals white with purple lines, lip green and yellow) and D. peguanum (deciduous, sepals and petals white, lip brown). I know there are several undescribed species in this group going on sale; I've seen the photos. It is quite possible that the plant you've seen is also undescribed. Can you tell me any more about it ... where you saw it, where it came from, whether it is deciduous or not, how long the inflorescence is, how many flowers ... stuff like that ? Peter O'Byrne In Singapore _______________________________________________ the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD) [email protected] http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com
