Dendrobium anosmum Lindley 1845 SECTION Dendrobium Photo cortesy of Dale and Deni Borders

Inflorescence Photo cortesy of Oak Hill Gardens, Copyright © 2002 All rights reserved

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Common Name Unscented Dendrobium [A misnomer as this species is quite fragrant]

Flower Size 2 to 4" [5 to 10 cm]

This very large sized, pendulous, cane orchid with distichous, deciduous leaves, is a native to Malaysia, Laos, Vietnam, Philippines, Indonesia, and Papua and New Guinea in gallery layers of lower primary forests at elevations up to 1300 meters with terete, arching to pendulous, to 4' [120 cm] long, many noded stem with each node enveloped by a loose fiiting sheath and carrying oblong elliptic, acute, deciduous leaves. It is a warm to hot growing orchid that needs a distinct dry period starting in October until the new leads appear sometime in the early spring. It blooms in the spring with 8 to 10 flowers which arise from the nodes all along the apice of the leafless cane and are held close in, it is quite scented and needs to be mounted on tree fern or a plaque of cork to accomodate the pendant canes. When the new growths appear in the late spring it is time to water and fertilize this plant heavily as it will grow up to 3' long by October when it is time to dry it out again.

Synonyms Callista anosma O. Ktze. 1891; Callista macrophylla [Lindl.] Kuntze 1891; Callista scortechinii O. Ktze. 1891; Dendrobium anosmum var. dearei (Rolfe) Ames & Quisumb. 1935; Dendrobium anosmum var. giganteum [Rchb.f] Valmayor & Tiu 1984; Dendrobium leucorhodum Schlechter 1879; Dendrobium macranthum Hooker or Miquel ?; Dendrobium macrophyllum Lindley not Ames or Richards ?; Dendrobium retusum Llanos 1859; Dendrobium scortechinii Hooker 1890; Dendrobium superbum Rchb.f 1864; Dendrobium superbum Rchb.f var anosmum Rchb.f ? ; Dendrobium superbum var. dearei Rolfe 1891; Dendrobium superbum var. huttonii Rchb.f. 1869

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Orchidaniana Philippinana Vol 1 Valmayor 1984; A Checklist of the Orchids of Borneo Wood & Cribb 1994;Orchid Species Culture, Dendrobium Bakers 1996; Orchids of Sumatra Comber 2001; Orchids of the Philippines Cootes 2001; Flora Malesiana Orchids of New Guinea Vol II Shuiteman and de Vogel 2003;

Dendrobium anosmum Lindley var alba Hort. 1845

Photo courtesy of Jay Pfahl

Dendrobium anosmum Lindley var huttoni [Rchb.f] Ames & Quis. 1935 Photo courtesy of Jay Pfahl

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Orchidaniana Philippinana Vol 1 Valmayor 1984;