Dendrobium bracteosum
When I first saw Den bracteosum in a friend's collection a few years ago, I was smitten. It was a mature specimen with masses of purple flowers and in the ensuing years I found it extremely difficult to obtain as this species comes from Papua New Guinea. The few seedlings that were available were very expensive. Early this year I managed to get a good size seedling, the purple flowered variety with 4 canes, the tallest being only 4 inches. It seemed to like my place and has grown very rapidly. Two weeks ago, the first blooms appeared on an older leafless cane and two more spikes on another leafless cane.
Den bracteosum belongs to the Pedilonium section of Dendrobium, to which our own Den secundum also belongs. The flowers are borne on vey short racemes, usually with 8 - 10 flowers. There are different coloured varieties - purple, white and yellow The white with yellow lip is particularly attractive. BTW I got the alba variety in a thumbpot at the same time that I go this blooming purple one. This white variety grows like a weed and I expect it to flower soon.
The first 2 pictures are of the blooms on my plant. The other 2 pictures were taken at an orchid show about 2 years ago.
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