Wednesday, April 15, 2015

Dendrobium limpidum 'Ashley'

Dendrobium limpidum is from New Guinea and belongs to the Pedilonum section of Dendrobium.  This group of Dendrobiums have arching or pendant canes and most of them are quite large.  This plant is one of the smallest in the group.  It is considered by some to be the same plant as Dendrobium dichaeoides and  the plants do resemble another orchid genus named Dichaea with their closely set alternating leaves.  The canes are about 10 cm in length and produce clusters of rather small flowers that impress more by their bright color and number than by their individual beauty.  The flowers are less than 2 cm but come in clusters of around 15 flowers.  Like the other flowers in the Pedilonum section the flowers tend to be more or less tubular.  In this case the flowers are not only tubular but do not open very far and have a lip that curls up to block most of the open end of the flowers.  This can be seen in the close-up photos.  One very nice thing about this species is that the older canes continue to produce flowers for several years, though the new canes do not bloom the first year.  The older canes eventually lose their leaves but will even then continue to produce flowers.  On another note: I took this plant in for judging a few days after I posted this and it received a cultural award (Certificate of Cultural Merit) from the American Orchid Society.







10 comments:

  1. Woooow incredible!! Congrats Ron!

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    1. Thanks, Valeriy. It's really an easy one to grow and flower - never gives me any trouble.

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  2. Hi Ron,
    Incredible photos or this spetacular and marvelous Dendrobium.

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    1. Hi my friend. Thanks for the visit and comments.

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  3. Hi Ron
    I grow that species since several years, but your plant, and pictures... wow wow wow what a specimen! how long do you grow this?

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    1. I've had this quite a few years, Laurent, but it started as only a few canes. The last few years it has really bloomed well.

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  4. Congratulations on such a beautiful plant, my looks rather spindly comparing to yours, but seeing how well it can flower I live in hope...

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    1. Mine started our rather spindly as well, but with plenty of light it's become rather a treasure.

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  5. Hi Ron, check out this link. Is it another of your blogs? Or is someone misusing yours?

    http://taman-bunga-orkid.blogspot.cz/2015/04/dendrobium-vexillarius.html

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    1. Thanks for the heads-up, David. This person is simply stealing my blog posts. Almost their whole blog is my posts.

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