Dendrobium Mountain Magic

Dendrobium Mountain Magic is a hybrid of Dendrobium cuthbertsonii, less than 3 cm tall, and Dendrobium pseudoglomeratum, a very large plant.  The smaller parent has reduced the plant size to around 15 cm but the flowers are still very large, 4 cm long.  The plant blooms several times a year and is more tolerant of warm temperatures than its Dendrobium cuthbertsonii parent.  My plant is grown in live sphagnum in a plastic net pot with cool temperatures and good humidity and light.

Bulbophyllum odontopetalum

Bulbophyllum odontopetalum is a micro-miniature species from New Guinea.  Its flowers, which look like a tiny Dracula flower, are only 2 cm and are produced on 3 cm growths, a tiny pseudobulb and single leaf.  The flowers spikes are wiry and 4 cm.  Mine is mounted on cork and seems to prefer cool temperatures and higher light.

Laelia sincorana

Laelia sincorana, now reclassified as Cattleya sincorana is one of the smaller species in either Laelia or Cattleya and a real jewel.  It is from Brazil and blooms here in the spring.  The round pseudobulbs with their leaves are 10 cm tall and the flowers the same size or a bit larger.  The flower spikes emerge from within the leaves just as the leaves begin to unfold and the flowers are usually born singly, though occasionally I get two flowers from a flower spike.  I grow the plant with the highest light I can give it in cool to intermediate temperatures and mounted on a piece of tree branch.

Dendrobium malvicolor

This charming little species is from Sumatra.  It is only 10 cm tall with clusters of 3 cm flowers that appear to be white but have a pink blush.  Because the flowers are pendant, the fact that anther cap is purple is not evident either except on closer inspection.  The plant is quite temperature tolerant and blooms faithfully for me every spring on the older growths.  The growths are on a wiry "stem" with a fattened end that holds several small leaves.

Dendrobium seranicum 'Brendan'

It seems that all I've been posting recently are Dendrobiums, but in any case, here's another from the island of Seram in the Moluccas, Dendrobium seranicum.  The 3 cm flowers come in pairs on the 8cm growths with their narrow channeled leaves.  The plant belongs to the Oxyglossum section of the genus, Dendrobium and is one of the species in that section that is not from the island of New Guinea.

Dendrobium sulphureum

Dendrobium sulphureum is a high-altitude species from New Guinea in the Oxyglossum section of the genus.  Like most of the other plants in the section, it needs cool temperatures, good light and humidity, and also like the species in the section has fan-shaped flowers in bright but unusual color combinations, in this case, pale yellow flowers with a dark green column and an orange mid-lobe.  The canes are 13 cm long and the 3 cm flowers come two or three at time and last many months.
Even after the leaves fall from the canes they continue to produce flowers.