Orchid in flower on Christmas Palm

[Tropicgardener]

Coming out in flower in my garden is this lovely Hardcane Dendrobium (unknown name). It is growing on the trunk of a Christmas Palm and so far has missed the scrutiny of those pesky and destructive Dendrobium beetles.....

[LauraAnu]

Nice

Laura

[Walter John]

That's spectacular to say the least.

[Cindy Adair]

Beautiful flowers! I've never heard of Dendrobium beetles. Any information would be helpful so I'd know them when/if I see them. The photo is from my Christmas palm's orchid.

[Tropicgardener]

Apaandssa, that orchid is absolutely gorgeous, so you don't have Dendrobium beetles (you may know them under a different name).....well count yourself lucky. They are small (around 5mm long) and black and orange in colour and will destroy a young growth or orchid buds in minutes. They burrow into the pseudobulbs of many orchids but in particular Dendrobiums (hence the name) and lay eggs. The hatching larvae are very destructive. The beetles are easy to catch as they don't fly away, their defence mechanism is to drop, so by just touching them they will fall into the other hand to be dispatched.

[ariscott]

No orchids on palms yet for me. Need a bit more canopy for that. Besides, I have to water them in the dry season.... might forget...

[Cindy Adair]

Apaandssa, that orchid is absolutely gorgeous, so you don't have Dendrobium beetles (you may know them under a different name).....well count yourself lucky. They are small (around 5mm long) and black and orange in colour and will destroy a young growth or orchid buds in minutes. They burrow into the pseudobulbs of many orchids but in particular Dendrobiums (hence the name) and lay eggs. The hatching larvae are very destructive. The beetles are easy to catch as they don't fly away, their defence mechanism is to drop, so by just touching them they will fall into the other hand to be dispatched.

I read more on the internet about these bugs. I've never heard anyone mention them in the continental U.S. but here in Virginia very few orchids (no dendrobiums) survive outside. In Western Puerto Rico, the dendrobiums I've added so far have bloomed well. I'd love to hear from anyone else about whether or not the Carribean islands fight this critter or primarily Australia? Of course, Virginia does have its share of bugs including Japanese beetles that chew on many plants outside... Thanks again for telling me about this Dendrobium beetle. All my plants are inspected before I take them from Virginia to Puerto Rico but I really doubt the inspector would notice the signs of this beetle any more than I would before your post.

[Cindy Adair]

No orchids on palms yet for me. Need a bit more canopy for that. Besides, I have to water them in the dry season.... might forget...

I think most dry seasons in Western PR means it only rains every other day... My orchids there don't get any care from the moment they're tied to the trees. I do retie them if the tree that held them dies or a termite mound is built around them but no extra water and no fertilizer.Truly surival of the fittest, but I do have lots of shade and mist. However I'm eventually going to run short of full sun places to plant sunloving trees unless a hurricane "prunes" everything.

[KPL]

Beautifully placed!

kpl

[Gbarce]

This one is attached to a royal. Kind of looks like a cluster of catleyas. the petals are red and orange

[aussiearoids]

Choice den' , almost like a phalaenopsis .I have a few different ones growing here naturally . One is very unusual and is called the 'bottle brush' orchid . It is or was Dendrobium smillieae ...

Now Coelandria smillieae . Has very long pendulous psuedobulbs and a very long lasting infl.

[Gbarce]

Look at what's blooming above the licuala sumawongii leaf

[Gbarce]

locally its called "Sanggumay"

It's definitely an orchid anda dendrobium I think

[Gbarce]

They only bloom once a year around this time. I.ve seen some with stalks over 10 feet long full of blooms

[ariscott]

Choice den' , almost like a phalaenopsis .I have a few different ones growing here naturally . One is very unusual and is called the 'bottle brush' orchid . It is or was Dendrobium smillieae ...

Now Coelandria smillieae . Has very long pendulous psuedobulbs and a very long lasting infl.

Wow.... that is stunning. Is it easy to find??

[aussiearoids]

Easy here Ari , there might be some on branches down in the gully , but there be beasts and muck down there ...many natives can be very difficult to source .. certain someone would have flasked it .

[Tropicgardener]

Mick, I 'obtained' a large Bottlebrush orchid when I used to work on Yarrabah aboriginal mission, was growing beautifully on my wheel of fire tree in Bundy.......noticed the wheel of fire has got the chop so no doubt the orchid is gone too !!!

Does the Genus name Coelandria still stand?............Some local orchid growers have told me that a lot of the name changes that were put in place by Jones and his cronies have been scrapped.....So plants such as the King Orchid, Thelychiton speciosus is now back to being a Dendrobium.

[ariscott]

hhmmm.... typical... the native is harder to get.....

[aussiearoids]

Andrew I think its still a valid name , but it will not be used by all the orchid growing public . Dockerilla !!

A quick google found an Orchid forum with one of the last posts and this comment ....."The international community do not recognise that name change.

The international panel who look after the Monocot list (including Australians) have rejected the 2002 name change."

At TAFE the lecturer was still calling Triangles Neodypsis !!

How slow some things change

[Tropicgardener]

Mate just look at some of the general garden magazines......... Chrysalidocarpus lutescens is still being used a lot !!