Dendrobium Flower Baby

Dendrobium Flower Baby is a hybrid of Dendrobium cuthbertsonii with Dendrobium victoria-reginae, a much larger species with thin semi-pendant canes.  In color and patterning the flowers resemble the larger parent but the plant size has been much reduced and the canes have become thick upright pseudobulbs.  The plant is 9 cm tall and the flowers 3 cm.

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 up to 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.

Porroglossum hirtzii

Porroglossum hirtzii is from Ecuador (Alexander Hirtz is a well known German orchid collector in Ecuador).  The plant is 4 cm tall and the leaves are a dark green with a lightly pebbled surface.  The flowers spikes bear only one flower and are 10 cm long and tend to be pendant.  The flowers are 1.5 cm long and have the typical hinged lip of this genus, a lip that swings up when the flower is disturbed by a pollinating insect, trapping the insect against the column of the flower.  Two of the last three pictures show the flowers with the lip against the column.

Luzama carmenensis

Luzama carmenensis or Masdevallia carmenensis is a small species from Colombia and Ecuador.  It blooms in the spring and has large flowers in proportion to the plant.  The plant is 5 cm tall and the flowers are also 5 cm from the base of the tube to the end of the sepaline tails and from tip to tip.  The flower spikes are 9 cm and carry a single flower.  Because the flowers are semi-pendant the plant seems to do best mounted and mine is on a piece of cedar with a bit of moss around the roots.

Rauhiella brasiliensis 'Rose'

This is a micro-miniature.  The plant with its pendant flower spikes is only 5 cm.  The individual succulent leaves are 1.5 cm and the flowers are 5 mm.  The species is from Brazil and was purchased as Chytroglossa paulensis, which it is not, but when awarded a Certificate of Botanical Recognition by the American Orchid Society was identified as Rauhiella brasiliensis.

Phalaenopsis Mini Mark 'Holm'

Grown on a bathroom windowsill, this is the only Phalaenopsis hybrid I own.  It's a very small plant, a hybrid of Phalaenopsis Micro Nova and Phalaenopsis philippinense.  It blooms faithfully every spring and I keep it because of its small size.  Like all Phalaenopsis it requires warm temperatures and lower light and does very well on a windowsill.