Dendrobium hellwigianum

I posted this species several weeks ago but the photos were of another plant, since I have two plants.  This is the other, not much different except that flowers have a slightly different color.  The species is from New Guinea, belong to the oxyglossum section fo the genus Dendrobium and is around 10 cm tall with 3-4 cm flowers.

Dendrobium hellwigianum

I have two different plants of Dendrobium hellwigianum, the other one of them a paler pink and with more of a bluish cast to the flowers.  The species seems easy enough to grow when given cool temperatures and high light.  In this case the plant is 10 cm tall and the individual flowers between 3 and 4 cm and usually produced in pairs at the top of the pseudobulb and between the narrow channeled leaves.  Like all the Oxyglossum Dendrobiums the flowers are very long-lasting.

Dendrobium hellwigianum

I have two different plants of Dendrobium hellwigianum, one of them a darker pink and with less of a bluish cast to the flowers.  The species seems easy enough to grow when given cool temperatures and high light.  In this case the plant is 10 cm tall and the individual flowers between 3 and 4 cm and usually produced in pairs at the top of the pseudobulb and between the narrow channeled leaves.  Like all the Oxyglossum Dendrobiums the flowers are very long-lasting.

Dendrobium hellwigianum

I have two plants of this species, this one with bluer flowers than the other, which other plant has flowers that open pink and fade to an off-white.  The species is from New Guinea and when given cool temperatures, high humidity and high light can produce hundreds of flowers on a small plant.  It belongs to the Oxyglossum section of the genus Dendrobium, and is a miniature like most of the other species in that section.  This plant is 8cm tall, each growth having three or four pencil-like leaves with a deep channel down the inside. 

Dendrobium hellwigianum

Dendrobium hellwigianum is a high-altitude species from New Guinea and is reputed to be difficult to grow.  I have no difficulty growing it or flowering it with cool temperatures and high humidity.  It is an attractive plant with thick, narrow leaves that look a bit like chives to me and the unusually colored flowers come in pairs among the leaves and at the top of the pseudobulbs.  The plant is 10cm tall and the flowers 3cm.  I grow the plant mounted on a small slab of cedar with a pad of moss around the roots of the plant.

Dendrobium hellwigianum

Here is another Dendrobium from the Oxyglossum section, a group of mostly high-altitude, miniature Dendrobiums from Papua New Guinea, that have some of the longest lasting flowers in the orchid world, some of them lasting six months or more.  I have often wondered if this is due to a lack of pollinators at those high altitudes, but have never seen an explanation.

This species is named after a German orchid collector and blooms profusely when well grown.  My plant, still rather small, has around 50 flowers on it at present.  The distinctive white, purple and orange coloring of the flowers is concealed by the foliage to some extent since the flowers appear, three or four to a growth, among the leaves at the top of the small pseudobulbs.

The plant is 10 cm tall and the flowers are 3 cm tall.  Each growth produces four or five deeply channeled and nearly terete (pencil-like) leaves.  The flowers have a long spur at the base of lip that is nearly transparent and in which drops of nectar can be seen.  My plant is grown on a mount which is nearly covered with moss and which keeps the plant constantly damp.