Michael O'Connor asked about some Dendrobiums. For a good range of pictures of commonly-cultivated species Dendrobiums, try Schelpe and Stewart, "Dendrobiums, an intro. to the species in cultivation." isbn 1 873 035 004
To be more directly helpful, see below. >Dendrobium binoculare General habit: tufted and erect. Pseudobulbs: Up to 60 cm long, whip-like to thin, smooth. Leaves: narrow and pointed, to 10 cm. Flower: clusters of around 5, each 5cm across; all yellow except lip which has two red-brown blotches and a fringed edge. Lowland and thus warm-growing East Asia, short dry season environment. >Dendrobium chrysanthum General habit: dangling or semi-pendant. Often sprouts in dry season. Pseudobulbs: to a metre - in the wild to three - with a somewhat knobbly appearance. Leaves: often quickly deciduous so that only the tip has leaves. Oblong, around 8 cm or less. Flowers, typically in pairs but can be in clusters of up to five. Up to 4 cm across, often not opening well, with no pronounced season. Many plants are self-pollinating and never open at all. Yellow except for lip, which has a blotch (or two blotches) of brown. No fringe. Cool-growing to intermediate Himalayan species extending to, I think, Thailand and Viet Nam. >Dendrobium chryseum This is a dreadful muddle as D. clavatum, aurantiacum, and other species are often mislabled as this. Himalayan plants have leaves pronouncedly at the top of the stem like the Callista group - of which this is in fact not a member - and are often called D. densiflorum in cultivation, despite the lip blotch. General habit: Upright, to 60cm but usually much less. Pseudobulbs: smooth, slender; to around 5-8mm thick. Leaves: held towards the end of the p/bulbs, leathery, broad and to 10 cm long, with a notch at the tip. Flowers: on hanging inflorescence from the upper leaf nodes; usually 5-7, each to 5 cm. Yellow, with the inner lip having a single brown-red blotch. Himalayan species, intermediate growing, pronounced dry season. >Dendrobium fimbriatum var occulatum General habit: sprawling outwards in a crown. Can get enormous. Pseudobulbs: to 2.5 m in older plants. Elongated cigar shaped, to 2 cm thick in the centre, 1 cm at the base. Leaves: Persistent and all along the p.bulb, to 8 cm, narrow and pointed. Flowers: hanging inflorescence near the end of the p/bulb; with up to 20 flowers about 3 cm diameter. Var occulatatum has a deep red blotch filling the indide of the lip and apronounced fringe. The base species has no blotch. Plants flower off old p/bulbs for 5-10 years. Himalayan species that extends to Java. Needs a dry rest. >Dendrobium gibsonii General habit: very like D. fimbriatum. Often sold as D. fuscatum. Pseudobulbs: similar, but smaller than D. fimbriatum. Leaves: More widely spaced than D. fimbriatum. Flowers: similar in all ways to D. fimbriatum, but 70% smaller. Always blotched in the throat of the lip. Questionable whether this is a true species, as D. fimbriatum has a huge geographical range and is very variable within this. It is, however,scented and D. fimbriatum - in my experience, at least - is not. I've never seen it (knowingly) in the wild. Himalayan, intermediate growing, dry rest. ______________________________ Oliver Sparrow +44 (0)1628 823187 www.chforum.org _______________________________________________ the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD) [email protected] http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com
