Dendrobium cuthbertsonii

I have so many different plant of this species, that I don't remember whether or not I posted this one recently, and haven't bothered to check.  This, again, is Dendrobium cuthbertsonii, one of the most desirable of all miniature orchids.  It is from New Guinea and from the Oxyglossum section of the genus Dendrobium.  The plants vary slightly in size but at most are only a few centimeters tall with flowers that dwarf the plant.  This particular plant has very large flowers and has bicolor (two-toned) flowers.

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Dendrobium cuthbertsonii bicolor

Here is another clone of Dendrobium cuthbertsonii, this a bicolor.  Though the flowers are not as large as some of the more modern selected clones, this has very clear color and a very well defined between the two colors of the flowers.  Like others of this species the plant is very small, less than 3 cm, with flowers that dwarf the plant and last for months.  The species is from New Guinea and is cool-growing, but requires high light, a combination not all growers are able to give it.

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Dendrobium hellwigianum

I have two different plants of Dendrobium hellwigianum, one of them a darker pink and with less of a bluish cast to the flowers.  The species seems easy enough to grow when given cool temperatures and high light.  In this case the plant is 10 cm tall and the individual flowers between 3 and 4 cm and usually produced in pairs at the top of the pseudobulb and between the narrow channeled leaves.  Like all the Oxyglossum Dendrobiums the flowers are very long-lasting.

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Dendrobium cuthbertsonii

This is far from my best Dendrobium cuthbertsonii.  The flowers are small and the flower segments are not always very flat, nor is the color as bright as I would like, but the plant always blooms profusely and so I keep it.  The species is from New Guinea, is cool growing, as has been noted before, and likes high light.  In fact, under very high light it will also tolerate warmer temperatures.  My plant is grown in a clay pot in sphagnum moss.

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Dendrobium cuthbertsonii

It seems that's all I'm posting is Dendrobium cuthbertsonii and its hybrids, but they are all in bloom now and not much else is.  This plant is one of my better examples of the species with very large flowers that open well and good color.  The species, as those who are familiar with it know, comes in a rainbow of colors and has flowers that last six months or more.  The plant is tiny, only a few cm tall, and the flowers, 3.5 cm in this case, dwarf the plant.

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Dendrobium Gina Perlite 'Crystal White'

Dendrobium Gina Perlite is a hybrid of Dendrobium cuthbertsonii and Dendrobium prasinum.  It has, more or less, the growth habit of Dendrobium cuthbertsonii, though the leaves do not have the pebbled surface of that species and the growths are generally a little fatter and larger.  Its flowers certainly look like the flowers of Dendrobium cuthbersonii.  The pale yellow flowers are 4 cm long and 3 cm across the face of the flower, but the clonal name is misleading since the flowers are very definitely not crystal white.

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Dendrobium oreodoxa x cuthbertsonii

I purchased this hybrid several years ago and as far as I know it is still unnamed.  It is a hybrid of the micro-miniature Dendrobium cuthbertsonii from section Oxyglossum and the much larger cane-type Dendrobium oreodoxa from section Calyptrochilus, both species from New Guinea.  The hybrid seems little influenced by the Dendrobium oreodoxa parent.  Both plant and flowers look like the other parent.  The individual growths are less than 3 cm and the flowers are nearly 4 cm long.

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Dendrobium agathodaemonis

Dendrobium agathodaemonis is usually considered a synonym of Dendrobium cuthbertsonii and comparing this post with the previous will certainly show why.  If there are any reason to consider them separate species then the lack of dark markings on the lip and the very thin growths distinguish this species.  The growth on my plant are 1 cm tall and produce 3 cm flowers.  My plant is grown on a piece of cedar and the flowers are pendant.

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Dendrobium cuthbertsonii bicolor

This is one of a number of bicolor Dendrobium cuthbertsonii I own, and this is one of the better examples, with very large and very open flowers.  Like other examples of this species the plant itself is tiny, only 2 cm tall, with 4 cm flowers.  Some of the plants of this species I grow mounted.  This is grown in a clay pot in live sphagnum, but does no better than those that are mounted.

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Dendrobium Illusion

This is one of several plants I own of the hybrid of Dendrobium cuthbertsonii and Dendrobium lawesii.  The cross has reduced the size of Dendrobium lawesii, a species with long pendant canes, and has produced a plant with erect growths and flowers that are more open (those of Dendrobium lawesii are tubular).  The hybrid has canes 12 cm tall with 3 cm flowers that are produced in clusters.  The leaves have the "pebbled" appearance of the Dendrobium cuthbertsonii parent.

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