Unscented Dendrobium

Description:

This very large sized, pendulous, cane orchid with distichous, deciduous leaves, is a native to Malaysia, Laos, Vietnam, Hong Kong, 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 fitting 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 accommodate 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.