Dendrobium speciosum hillii (Dendrobium speciosum hillii)
Description
There are two to five thick, leathery leaves originating from the top of each pseudobulb. These leaves can remain on the plant for up to 12 years. The erect or curved pseudobulbs are large, up to 45 cm (18 in) long. They are thickest at their base, measuring 5 to 7 cm (2.0 to 2.8 in), and taper towards the apex (3 cm (1.2 in)). The showy flowers grow in long racemes on straight or slowly arching, long, starchy stems. Some varieties produce 100 or more 2 to 5 cm (0.8 to 2.0 in), sweetly fragrant flowers per raceme in winter or spring. Flower colour, depending on variety, can be white, cream, yellow or dark yellow. Some cultivars have golden hued flowers. The (predominantly) white labellum is covered with purple dots and veined with red and purple. This orchid is popular in cultivation, growing into a large specimen that does well outdoors in climates with a mild winter. It may be grown in an open, coarse orchid growing medium, on a sturdy tree with an open canopy, or as a terrestrial in a well-drained position. It requires very bright light to full sun. Watering is year round in moderation. It is very temperature tolerant as long as it receives good warmth during the growing season. Frost, however, can cause extensive defoliation, an event the plant may require years to recover from. In cultivation D. speciosum can develop extremely large pseudobulbs, and benefits from regular fertilisation. Even in ideal cultivation conditions it may not flower every year, especially so in plants from more southern populations. The 1889 book The Useful Native Plants of Australia records that common names included "rock lily" and that "The large pseudo-bulbs have been eaten by the aborigines, they, however, contain but little nutritive matter
Taxonomic tree
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Domain: Eukarya
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Kingdom: Plantae
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Phylum:
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Class: Liliopsida
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Order: Asparagales
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Family: Orchidaceae
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Genus: Dendrobium
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