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| A mature flower with fully curled petals. |
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| A newly opened flower.
A few years back I brought a
seedling of this plant from Tropical Orchid Farm. I have always liked “antelope” Dendrobium from the section Sphatulata (also known as Ceratobium) because of their resemblance
to the heads of antelopes. This plant is native of Papua New Guinea and the
Solomon Islandsm it has a number of differently colored forms. Unfortunately my first plant proved to be a
slow grower and would only produce small squat canes. Undaunted, I brought another plant from
TOF. The new plant grew vigorously and
promptly produced a cane that was at one feet and a half tall, much larger than
any of the previous ones. This cane produced
an inflorescence in January and the first flowers opened in March. Now it is
the middle of May and most flowers are still in good shape. The inflorescence had about twenty flowers.
The flowers are yellow with a
finely sculpted lip and the upraised twisted petals that are a notable
characteristic of the section. The
distal end of the petals is a deep brown color which contrasts well with the
color of the rest of the flower. The
flowers last for months in perfection, even when subjected to wind and rain. My plant is growing in a pot with medium size
stones as media as I have lost many a Dendrobium
from root rot as a consequence of a waterlogged media.
The cultural advice I can give
about this plant is the following. I
grow my best plant in a bright, airy spot.
I have grown my plants both in full sun and under shade cloth and the
plant under shade cloth grew better.
Give the plant plenty of fertilizer and water when it is producing new
canes. When they are not growing I don’t
fertilize my plants. Avoid putting this
orchid in media that can become so packed and waterlogged that the roots are
deprived of oxygen, this will kill the roots.
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