Dendrobium anosmum var huttonii

I have cultivated this particular clone of Dendrobium anosmum var. huttonii for many years. It has several peculiar traits that make it distinct from other anosmum plants. But first let’s mention which trait defines var. huttonii as a distinct variety of Dendrobium anosmum. The defining trait of var. Huttonii is a pure white flower with purple color on the lip. If a plant has any color, no matter how pale, outside the lip, it is not Huttonii. There are many, many named varieties of anosmum, but only two have been scientifically described, var. dearei, the alba form and var. huttoni. The other variants, and there are probably dozens or even hundreds of them, get their names from commercial growers or from informal descriptions in popular literature. To mention just a few, anosmum from the Philippines sometimes are called superbum, also there is var. delacourii, var. velutina (both very hairy flowers with flowers that look squashed), “touch of class” and the “thai” type. Also, there are many hybrids of anosmum and parishii, cucullatum, primulinum and rhodopterygium that are sometimes sold as anosmum. Hybrids sometimes sold as anosmum are Nestor, Supernestor, and Little Sweetscent. There are several traits that are characteristic of this huttoni clone. For example, my plants start producing flower buds and showing basal growths in the middle of January. A six to seven weeks before the type form of the species does the same in my locality. The clone I have is less vigorous than the type form of the species. It takes dedicated care to coax this plant to produce canes more than two feet long, and none of my plants have produced canes larger than three feet. It is common for anosmum to produce plantlets near the tip of old canes that have lost their roots. Huttonii produces plantlets near the tip of canes, but it also produces them, at the middle of the cane. Huttonii plantlets separated from the mother plant will tend to remain small unless they get fertilized regularly during the growing season with a fertilizer that has a high nitrogen number. In December, I reduce considerably the water my plants get and they start shedding their leaves. By the end of January most of my plants are entirely leafless. My huttoni bloom from leafless canes. Normally, anosmum plants produce their flowers along the length of the cane. If the only few flowers are produced they tend to cluster at the tip of the stem. In huttonii, the flowers can appear near the tip of the cane but also at random spots near the middle. Sometimes small plants will bloom if they have several canes. I have seen plants with canes that are less than eight inches long produce a single flower at the tip of the cane. The huttonii clone has never been as floriferous as the type form which can produce dozens of flowers if well cared for. I am happy if any of the canes produce eight flowers simultaneously. Sometimes a cane will only produce two to four flowers. And here is the most bizarre thing about this clone, sometimes a cane that bloomed early in the year will bloom again, weeks or months after it first flowered. No other anosmum variety I have has shown this peculiar trait. The flowers are highly fragrant. When this plant shows the buds of the flowers and the new growth, I return to a normal watering and fertilizing schedule. I cultivate my plants in baskets because during the rainy season it can rain heavily, every day for months. This, and the heat and the insects tend to turn most organic potting media into slush in a bothersome short time if the media stays saturated all the time. Baskets allow for fast drainage and at bit of drying in between rain events. This also means that the media can get very dry during the dry season and will need several good soakings before it starts retaining water. These plants are heavy feeders and will not grow to a good size unless regularly fertilized. At the beginning of the growing season, I remove the plantlets from the older canes. Sometimes I cut a sizeable section of the cane around the plantlets to them a better head start. The critical part is the time period when the plantlet is sending into the media the roots of its first cane produced after separation. If anything happens to the roots, this will be a considerable set back to the growth and will endanger the survival of the plantlet. A plantlet that is well cared for can start blooming as soon as two years after being separated from the mother plant. There is more information on the culture of Dendrobium anosmum elsewhere in this blog.

Rhyncholaelia digbyana [Lindley]Schlechter 1918

This orchid grows well in the coast of the Island of Puerto Rico.  Warm temperatures, high humidity and plentiful sunlight are well suited to its cultivation.   

Bulbophyllum Grace Thoms (Bulb. echinolabium x Bulb. paluense)

I brought this plant about three years ago as a three bulb division.    Initially, the plant didn’t had much by the way of roots so growth was slow.   After the first new growth produced roots the plant grew better, with larger growths.   However it didn’t bloom until the plant had accumulated several large and plump pseudobulbs.  

The inflorescences are wiry and I didn’t notice them at first.   The inflorescences in my plant open their flowers sequentially, having just one flower open at a time.  The flowers are large and striking, you can easily see the echinolabium parent influence in them.

This plant is cultivated in a relatively small pot, about five inches wide, in bark with some Styrofoam peanuts in the bottom of the pot to aid drainage.  The plant gets watered twice a week when it is in full growth and it has not rained in the previous few days.  When it is not in its growth phase it can go one or two weeks without watering with no sign of distress.  But when it is producing pseudobulbs I don’t allow it to go bone dry.

The plant get full sun for about two hours early in the morning and then sunlight filtered through the canopy of tall trees.    During part of the year the sun comes up in a gap between two large trees this means that the plants get more hours of direct sunlight early in the morning.  They have shown no ill effects due to the increased light exposure.  

 

I have not been able to detect any fragrance from the flowers.  However the flowers are attracting the local flies, so it is probably producing at least some fragrance, probably with a distinct fecal smell.   I found one fly stuck to the fluid in the stigmatic cavity.  I released it and it fled with alacrity.  Other flies were seen in the vicinity but so far only one has become trapped.

Dendrobium parishii Rchb.f 1863, close up of the flowers

This is one of my smallest Dendrobium species.  The cane grows just a few inches in spite of all my efforts to try to see if it will produce larger canes.  I grow it exactly like my Dendrobium anosmum, it also receives the same light conditions.  It blooms every year with a few flowers on the tip of the canes.  I suspect that my local conditions are a bit too warm for this species and this translates into less vigorous growing.

Dendrobium anosmum var. huttonii, an update on my plant

For the last seven years my plant of this species grew vigorously and bloomed well.  Unfortunately, I moved it to a shadier, wetter spot than what it was used to because I wanted to put some other plants there.  As a result the base of the plant stayed sopping wet for weeks during the rainy season and it died.  Fortunately the plant has four large keikis that will be repotted to individual baskets as soon as they finish blooming.  Although the mother plant base died, the keikis are so large, all of them bloomed.
Here is a link to how I cultivate this plant.

http://ricardogupi.blogspot.com/2008/10/dendrobium-anosmum-var-huttoni-culture.html

Epilaelia Snow Fantasy x Encyclia alata, the 2014 blooming

This is this plant second blooming in my garden.  The plant still have some way to go before it reaches full adult size.  The Epilaelia Snow Fantasy is a large plant. The Encyclia parent can vary in size, I have seen both small and some impressively sized plants and I had one that would produce up to a hundred flowers in a single inflorescence.  I expect this plant inflorescences to increase in size until the plant has three or four full size pseudobulbs in a row.  It is not clear to me how large the pseudobulbs of this orchid will eventually get.   The best thing about this plant is that the climate in my garden is very well suited to its seasonal growth pattern.

Encyclia Gail Nakagaki (Enc. cordigera x Enc. alata) a second one blooms in my garden> The lip of this seedling shows a richer color than the lip of the first one to bloom.

This is the second plant of this cross to bloom in my garden.  The flowers have a richer color in the lip than the first one to bloom.  These are first bloom seedling so their full potential is still to be seen.  However I must confess that I don't buy these particular orchids for the perfection of their flowers but for their delightful fragrance.

Eria spicata [D.Don]Hand.-Mazz. 1836, bought for $5 at a Moca garden shop

I visited a garden shop in the town of Moca to see what bromeliads they had.  The owner, after hearing I liked orchids, showed me this plant.  At the time it didn't had any flowers so I was not sold on the idea of buying this plant.  But then he say he would sell it for 5 dollars.  The price was too cheap not to indulge in a bit of speculative buying.  This plant has been easy to culture under the envvironmental conditions of my garden, although it has not bloomed as abundantly as I would have expected given the many pseudobulbs it has produced since I brought it.  Still, this plant has been with me for only a year, maybe in the future it will be more generous with its flowers.

Encyclia Gail Nakagaki (Enc. cordigera x Enc. alata)

A few years ago I was visiting a friend in the town of Aguadilla and he had a large plant of this cross in full bloom.  The orchid had many flowers and their fragrance was both strong and delightful.  I was enchanted with this orchid but unfortunately it turned out not to be easily available.  But this year I found a source and brought two plants.  Amazingly the flowers of this orchid survived the trip from Hawaii almost intact.  I like the color of these flowers, but it is the fragrance that really seduced me.  The plants I got are young, they have the potential to produce many flowers at the same time.  Hopefully I will be able to help these plants achieve the impressive size of my friend's orchid.

Encyclia cordigera var alba

Photographed at the 2014 Ponce Orchid society show in Ponce, Puerto Rico.

Oncidium Heaven Scent 'Sweet Baby', a fragrant Oncidium

This hybrid is similar to Oncidium Sharry Baby "Sweet Fragrance'.  However the inflorescences are shorter, and more densely flowered, at least in the plants I have seen.  The flowers have the same  fragrance, the main difference is in the color of the flowers.

Rhychodendrum Cabalgata en Verde

This orchid is a cross of Rhyncholaelia digbyiana  and Epidendrum ciliare.  Both species have notable fringed lips.   Epi. ciliare has green sepals and petals and a relatively narrow lip that is white with fringed side lobes and has a long central projection.  Rhyncholaelia dygiana generally has green sepals and petals and a wide, deeply fringed green lip.  The Epi. ciliare parent of this cross is a particularly fine representative of the species, its flower has the largest natural spead of any ciliare awarded under the AOS system and was awarded a FCC in 2011.  The Rhyncholaelia parent is the cultivar “Laura” AM/AOS.  When I saw this Rhychodendrum it had two inflorescences, one with two flowers and another with three.  The flower count is reduced from the number the Epidendrum parent produces because of the Rhycholaelia influence.  

The Epidendrum parent dominates the appearance of the flower of the cross.  The Rhycholaelia influence shows as a widening of the side lobes and of the projection of the lip that is a particular feature of the Epi. ciliare lip.  The plant form is similar to the Epidendrum parent.  Since I saw this plant early in the morning I could discern no fragrance, but since both species are known to produce fragrance at night, I would expect it to be fragrant after the onset of darkness.

I have learned that only a few plants of this cross survived to bloom.  I have been told that there are just two clones of this cross.  I was told the other clone has even wider flower segments and produces more flowers, I hope one day I will see it.  I have seen three Epi. ciliare crosses and in two the Epidendrum is dominant in the shape and size of the hybrid.  I the third, a cross with Blc. Toshie Aoki, the flower is much larger than ciliare but from the appearance of the flower you would have a hard time guessing that the other parent..

Epidendrum nocturnum, a night fragrant orchid native of Puerto Rico

This cleistogamous flower was opened to show the flower structure inside the unopened bud

See developing seed capsure at the lower right corner

Epidendrum nocturnum is an orchid with a very large geographical distribution.  It can be found in Central America, the Greater Antilles and tropical South America.  In Puerto Rico it is reported as growing in the coast as well as in the high peaks in moist areas in the east of the island.  All the plants that I have seen have been in the middle to high points in the Sierra de Luquillo.  There are three orchids in the Sierra de Luquillo that have very similar flowers, Epidendrum nocturnum, Epi. carpophorum and Epi. tridens.  Epidendrum capophorum is so distinctive in its vegetative form that it is easy to distinguish from the other two.  Distinguishing between Epi. nocturnum and Epi. tridens it’s a bit harder but adult plants can be told apart because of the larger size of Epi. tridens.

In favorable habitats Epi. nocturnum is not rare, unfortunately I have yet to find a non cleistogamous plant.   A cleistogamic plant is one that self fertilizes. In some cleistogamic species the flowers never open.  This is the case of the Epi. nocturnum that I have found in the wild.   There are several species of orchids in Puerto Rico that are self fertilizing.  Why do plants do this?  There is a theory that says that cleistogamy allows plants to colonize areas where their natural pollinators are not present.  There are a number of species of Puertorican orchids that are pollinated in the continents by insects that are not present in the island.  A good example is the genus Dichaea, in those areas of South America where they grow they are pollinated by Euglossine bees, these bees are absent from Puerto Rico and yet local Dicheas reproduce well enough without them.  In these species cleistogamy is suspected even in those cases where the flowers open fully.

I have seen this plant growing in boulders in the middle of streams and in the trunk of tree ferns and Sierra Palms.  One interesting detail is that the healthiest plants all were growing in areas where there was an opening in the canopy.  These openings in the canopy could be in the middle of a river, in an area where a landslide or tree fall allowed the sunshine to penetrate into the forest and in the areas bordering roads.  This tells me that this plant grows best if it received bright light which may include being exposed to full sun for some time during the day.

The presence of seedlings growing under the cleistogamic plants show that this strategy is fairly successful locally.  This plant has a delightful perfume that is produced at night.  This plant is grown horticultural but all the plants I have seen in cultivation have been produced commercially outside Puerto Rico.  I was pleasantly surprised to see seedlings of this species for sale in the 2011 Puerto Rico Orchid Society annual orchid show.  The easy availability of plants produced in captivity, and the general absence of this species from most orchid collections probably means that wild collection of this species in Puerto Rico is apparently very rare.  I have yet to see plants of this species exhibited at orchid shows, the reason is not clear but it may reflect a preference for showing flowers with larger and more brightly colored flowers rather than any particular rarity of the species in captivity.

You can easily see the massive root system of this plant

I recommend this orchid for those people that place a great value in the fragrance in orchids.  I have not cultivated this plant but from observations of its habitat I would think this plant needs regular watering, high enviromental humidity and bright light to do well.  In all cases where I have seen this plant growing the roots were exposed to the air which indicates that this is a plant that needs an open, airy media to do well if grown in a pot.  Another alternative is to grow it mounted on a slab or plaque.  The downside of growing this it mounted is the need for copious watering during the peak of the dry season to avoid the death of the plant from dehydration.

Coilostylis (Epidendrum) ciliare, a night fragrant moth pollinated orchid native of Puerto Rico

Coilostylis ciliare, this is the presentation of the lip of a newly opened flower

Inflorescence, top view

Inflorescence, side view

A flower that has been open for a few days

A flower that has been open for more than a week, the reason for the color change is unclear but may be a signal for pollinators

The flower of a cross of Blc. Toshie Aoki and Coi. ciliare

Coilostylis ciliare is part of a group of green and white flowered orchids that have similar - looking flowers which are native of Puerto Rico.  This group of orchids is comprised of Epidendrum caphoporum, Epidendrum tridens, Epidendrum nocturnum and Coilostylis ciliare.  Of all these orchids the only one with a fringed lip is Coilostylis ciliare.   Coilostylis ciliare has a wide distribution on the island of Puerto Rico, I have seen plants from several places in the island.   Lately this plant has been renamed Coilostylis ciliare.

 I received as a gift a plant that originally came from the area of Utuado.  This plant had pseudobulbs only five to six inches tall and produced inflorescences of two to four flowers, it bloomed in the spring.   Sadly this I lost this plant which was among the smallest of all Coi. ciliare I have ever seen.  I also have a plant that hails from the east of the island and whose pseudobulbs reach nine to ten inches tall and that produces inflorescences that have four to nine flowers.  This plant ranks among the hardiest of my orchids.  It has survived everything that I or the weather has thrown its way from drought and deep shade to overwatering, neglect and very bright light conditions.   My plant usual response to adversity is to produced dwarfed pseudobuls that don’t bloom.  James Ackermann  says in his book that the plants of Puerto Rico might represent a conglomerate of sibling species.  He suggest that the population of plants of the Karst area in the north may be a different species, however this issue remains unresolved as far as I know.

My plant blooms between December and January.  I have seen large moths flying around the flower but have not seen them actually take the pollinia away from them.  The care of this plant is among the simplest.  It demands a well drained, airy media and strong light to do well.  However it will survive  under and grow reasonably well shady conditions but blooming will be poor if the shade is too deep.  In my experience it will grow and bloom even if not fertilized as long as it is planted in some sort of organic media but the pseudobulbs will be smaller than those of a well cared plant.

Some of these orchids are reported to have nice fragrances, but my plant is not one of those.  The way I perceive the fragrance of my plant is as if I was smelling a bunch of upset stinkbugs.  When there are many flowers open at the same time I find the smell overpowering but not in a good way.

In the early eighties I visited the island of Culebra and found an enormous population of this plant growing along the sides of a ravine in one of the most remote and little traveled sections of the island.  I haven’t forgotten the sight of thousands of plants of this species blooming at the same time.  None of the plants were growing on trees they were all growing on large boulders at the sides of the ravine.  Some of the boulders were covered with masses of plants that were several feet wide.  Unfortunately at the time I saw all these plants growing and blooming together I was not interested in growing or even photographing orchids so I regarded it as an interesting but not a particularly photo worthy subject.  How I have come to regret that judgment!

In 1989 hurricane Hugo went over the island of Culebra as a category four hurricane.  The damage to the vegetation and the infrastructure was severe.  I returned to the island and thought about visiting the colony of orchids, but it turned out that reaching the colony was an impossible dream.  I managed to get to nearby hill from which the area of the colony could be glimpsed with binoculars.  The colony showed the most pitiful aspect imaginable.  Practically every large tree had fallen exposing the whole colony to harsh sunlight.  As a result you could see the remains of thousands of sunburned, bleached, dead stems among the shrubs that had managed to survive the tremendous force of the winds.  Reaching the colony was impossible due to the tremendous damage the forest had received which rendered the whole area nearly impassable due to the large quantity of fallen branches and trees quite a few of which were fearsomely spiny.

But even among the destruction and carnage you could see here and there a few plants that had survived because they had been growing in narrow crevices between the huge boulders and had been sheltered from the worse of the winds, the falling debris and the sun.   By the time I visited Culebra many months had passed since the hurricane and already the vegetation, although mightily beaten, was showing signs of recuperation.

It has been many years since the last time I was in the island of Culebra, I wonder if I returned to the ravine whether I would find the orchids thriving again.  The area where the orchids grew is a protected area so the chances that the surviving plants managed to reseed the whole area are high.  The orchids of the Caribbean have live for millions of years on the island and probably have endured many cycles of destruction and rebirth.  I only hope one day I can return to the nearby hill where I last glimpsed the orchids to see how they have fared and maybe even glimpse their blooming even if from afar.

I have seen this orchid from time to time in local collections but, judging from the times I have seen exhibited at orchid shows, it seems it has become rarer in the last few years as orchid hybrids have become the focal point of many collections.  Some of the plants of this species at I have seen at orchid shows appeared to be from commercial sources outside the island.  There have been a few plants of this species that have exceptionally fine flowers but they are not often seen.  I saw a hybrid of Blc. Toshie Aoki and Coi. ciliare at an orchid show.  I also saw a photo of a Rhycholaelia digbyana/ Coi. ciliare cross.  But both plants are unavailable commercially.  Eli of Utuado had cross of Coi. ciliare with pastel pink flowers but I don’t remember which plant was the other parent.

Fragrant Dendrobium, ideal for a perfumed tropical garden



Dendrobium anosmum, all plant of this species I have grown are capable of producing the strong sweet fragrance characteristic of this species, the scientific name, anomum, which means without fragrance, must have been given by an anosmic individual!  This species when well bloomed can produce a powerful fragrance that can be clearly smell from many feet away.

 I have grown Dendrobium orchids for many years and it is one of my favorite orchid genera. Of the Dendrobium, the ones I like best are the fragrant species and hybrids. In the following article I will share details on the species and varieties I have grown, on their fragrances and on the particular quirks that the various species have exhibited under my culture.




Many years ago, in a book whose title I can’t remember, I read about a circular garden that was divided in six parts. Each part of the garden was devoted to a different sense. The garden had five wedges, where all the wedges converged in the center there was another circle, this one devoted to the sixth sense, intuition, and planted with only with golden flowers. This garden captured my imagination, but unfortunately I could not make one. My work as a wildlife biologist has meant that I have lived either in urban areas near universities or deep in protected forests, in these places this type of garden was impossible. But in these settings orchids allowed me to enjoy delightful fragrances, lovely colors and interesting shapes without the need of large spaces, digging, or modifying the landscape in any significant way. Orchids had also the virtue of portability, when I moved, (something that has happened several times during my career), I just took them with me with little problem.


Of all the orchids I have, the Dendrobium represent the best combination of ease of culture, resistance to pests and consistent flowering. This didn’t happen by chance, I did my homework and tried to acquire those species that were best suited for my climatic conditions. Getting the information on the cultural needs of the particular Dendrobium you want to grow is very important as some species need a certain degree of seasonal variation of temperature and moisture to stimulate the buds in the cane to change from the vegetative to flowering mode. Pest resistance is important to me as I don’t want to have to continually use pesticides just to keep my plants in good condition. I do use pesticides but on spot applications and not as preventive measures. In respect to consistent flowering, taking care to give the plants the proper culture they need goes a long way toward achieving regular flowering even on plants that are sometimes labeled as difficult. I suspect that some of the difficulties faced by growers getting their plants to bloom may have to do with growers trying to grow them under conditions that are not really suited to that particular species.

I grow my orchids outside, in a terrace and in a shade house. I live near the central mountain range of Puerto Rico at an altitude of 1000 feet (350 mts), near the center of the Rio Abajo State Forest, where I work. The local temperatures range from 60F (16C) at night at the peak of winter to 90F at daytime in the height of summer, daily temperature variation is about 10 to 15 degrees. There are just two seasons, a dry and a wet one. Humidity fluctuates most of the year between 70 and 80% but varies from 40% during the day at the peak of the dry season to close to 100% at night during the rainy season. The plants are watered weekly during if it doesn’t rain. The plants are regularly watered during the dry season with the exception of those that need a seasonal dry spell. The plants receive fertilizer only when they are growing. Some effort was made to find the optimal sun exposure for each species. It was found that most bloom much better with several hours of exposure to full sunlight in the morning.

Dendrobium anosmum alba, small flowered, small lipped clone

Dendrobium anosmun var. huttoni

The most common type of Den. anosmum is also the most floriferous, it is capable of producing more than sixty flowers on a single cane

Den. anomum variety from Thailand, the flower is suspiciously similar to Den. Nestor but the canes are unique and not similar at all to those of Nestor

Den. Nestor clone, favoring the anosmum parent, but note the fuzzy lip that betrays the parishii ancestry, at time sold as anosmum, all Nestor I have grown have the sweet fragrance associated with anosmum

A Den. Nestor that favors the parishii parent

A Den. Nestor that is quite distinct from most other forms hybrid

A very small lipped form of Den. Nestor with very thick textured flowers

In the front, Den. farmeri var. albiflorum, an outstading clone of this type, in the background a typically colored form. The fragrance is faint but clearly felt when there are many flowers

A flower of Den. farmeri albiflorum

Den. farmeri, a faint fragrance

Dendrobium harveyanum, formerly an extremerly difficult to find species, a slight honey fragrance

Den. crumenatum, powerfully fragrant at certain times of the day

Den. parishii, delightfully frangrant with a sweet note

Den. chrysotoxum, a sweet slight honey fragrance

Den. fimbriatum var. oculatum, a sour citrical fragrance

Den. nobile, a slight sweet fragrance

Dendrobium moschatum it has complex fragrance delightful to some, unpleasant to others

Dendrobium spectabile it has a complex fragrance sweet to some, to others like crushed stinkbugs