Dendrobium sulphureum

My Dendrobium sulphureum is in full bloom once again with its unusually colored flowers.  This species belongs to the Oxyglossum section of the genus Dendrobium, but is a larger plant than many in that section.  My plant has cane-like growths 13 cm tall with two or three 3 cm flowers at the tip of each growth.  Each cane continues to produce flowers for several years, even after the leaves have fallen away.

There are three varieties of this species, distinguished primarily on the basis of growth habit.  My plant was obtained as variety sulphureum and does indeed appear to be that variety.  Its longer canes distinguish it from variety cellulosum and its softer leaves from variety rigidifolium.  The soft yellow color of the flowers with their green, orange-tipped labellum are its most attractive feature, however.

Diodonopsis anachaeta

Diodonopsis or Masdevallia anachaeta is a tiny thing, the plant only 2 cm tall and the flowers just over 1 cm.  The flowers hang over the plant like little bells and remind me of some of purple-flowered species Clematis like C. integrifolia.  The species ranges from Peru and Bolivia through Columbia and Ecuador.

Mount Baker Orchid Society Show

Saturday, March 9th, was our orchid society's annual orchid show.  It was held at Skagit Valley Gardens in the Mount Vernon area, a central location for the members and close enough to Seattle that those who were interested could drive up for this first area show of the year.

The show was a success for me.  I used my purpose-built display case with an insert  made of styrofoam that looks like a lava cliff and had about 35 miniature orchids displayed in it.  The case sets up and break down in very little time and most of the set-up time was spent arranging the plants.

I not only won a number of ribbons, but won the American Orchid Society's Show Trophy and a Silver Certificate for the display (the ribbon for it is on the front of the display in the last picture).  I did not enter my plants for AOS judging, so do not know if any of the plants would have won additional awards.

Four plants did win show trophies.  Dendrobium pentapterum won the trophy for best miniature, a plant of Masdevallia decumana won the trophy for best pleurothallid, Masdevallia filaria the Sandy Faulkner trophy, and Pleurothallis cypripedioides the trophy for best specimen plant.

I was not feeling well Saturday, so did not take the usual number of pictures, but did manage to get a few.  The display is by our society, the Mount Baker Orchid Society, and the plants are from all the displays.  Our show is small, six display and four vendors, but was a success, in my opinion.

For those interested, the plants I entered, mostly Dendrobiums and Pleurothallids, were (in no particular order):
     1.  Masdevallia decumana ‘Nancy’ CCE-AM/AOS and another unnamed clone
     2.   Dendrobium Illusion (cuthbertsonii x lawesii) - two plants
     3.   Masdevallia Maui Lollipop ‘Hannah’ HCC/AOS (Angel Frost x mendozae)
     4.   Pleurothallis cypripedioides
     5.   Masdevallia molossus ‘Owen’ CHM/AOS
     6.   Dendrobium cuthbertsonii - two plants
     7.   Dendrobium cuthbertsonii bicolor
     8.   Dendrobium cuthbertsonii semi-alba
     9.   Sophronitis coccinea
     10.  Masdevallia hirtzii
     11.  Masdevallia constricta ‘Kailyn’ HCC/AOS
     12.  Dryadella barrowii
     13.  Lepanthopsis astrophora ‘Stalky’
     14.  Masdevallia dalessandroi
     15.  Masdevallia chaetostoma
     16.  Masdevallia filaria
     17.  Restrepia cuprea
     18.  Lepanthes vellicata
     19.  Dendrobium masarangense
     20.  Ophidion cunabulum
     21.  Masdevallia pachyura
     22.  Masdevallia lamprotyria
     23.  Dendrobium violaceum
     24.  Dendrobium sulphureum
     25.  Dendrobium pentapterum
     26.  Dendrobium Mountain Magic (cuthbertsonii x pseudoglomeratum)
     27.  Dendrobium agathodaemonis
     28.  Dryadella cristata
     29.  Lepanthes ingridiana
     30.  Dendrobium Gina Perlite (cuthbertsonii x prasinum)
     31.  Masdevallia bennettii

The pictures that follow are of others' plants.  As usual, I was not able to photograph everything I wanted since the plants at a show are not always accessible, and had to take close-ups of some because of other distractions, tags, flowers, greenery, etc.  Photography at shows is always a challenge.

Doritaenopsis Chian Xan Super Idol 'CX255'

Doritaenopsis I-Hsin Spot Leopard

Phalaenopsis Chian Xen Violin 'CX333'

Phalaenopsis Tying Shin Cupid 'Maria Teresa'

Phalaenopsis hybrid

Dendrobium atroviolaceum var. pygmy

Dendrobium hybrids

Dendrobium sulcatum

Paphiopedilum urbanianum

Phragmipedium Noirmont 'John Ritchie'

Sophrolaeliocattleya Alvin Begeman 'Poem'

Brassocattleya Nakornpathome Silver

Laelia anceps

Cattleya aurantiaca 'Orange Spots'

Epidendrum Pacific Girl

Epicattleya Rene Marques 'Flamethrower'

Oncidium Twinkle 'Red Fantasy' and Oncidium Tiger Crow

Oncidium Alliance hybrid

Lycaste Absolutely Stunning 'Grantham's Glory

Brasiliorchis porphyrostele

Dendrochilum wenzelii

Dendrochilum uncatum 'Stony Point'

Stenosarcos Vanguard 'Fireball'

Pleurothallis giantea and Masdevallia Ziegler's Love

Gongora odoratissima

Dryadella barrowii

I purchased this as Masdevallia minuta and when it bloomed it proved to be something entirely different, though the genus Dryadella was once included in Masdevallia.  After a lot of searching I've come up with a tentative identification since it seems to fit best the descriptions of Dryadella barrowii, also from Ecuador.  The leaves are about 8 cm and the flowers have a spread of 2 cm.  Like the rest of the Dryadellas it produces a lot of flowers when it blooms.