Bloom Event - Dendrobium anosmum

Wow. Just WOW! What a beautiful flower. This is only a baby plant and it will get a LOT bigger in the future, but my word what a lovely flower. They are rather larger than I expected but that might only be because they are on such a small plant. I got this species in a Dendrobium trade and to this day I believe I got the better end of the bargain. Hopefully the chap I traded with will read this and know how pleased I am with this plant (and the other two he sent me, but they aren't flowering yet).

I don't usually go for what I call wishy-washy pastel colours, but the dark splodges on the lip really  make the flowers stand out. The delicately fimbriated edge to the lip is lovely and the closer I look the more lovely it is. The plant unexpectedly produced two flower spikes from its newest cane (it has three) with two buds on each so there are flour flowers in total.

'Anosmum' means 'without scent'. I can't fathom why it got called that. When I walked into the growroom this morning I knew something new had opened, and I knew it wasn't the scent of Dendrochilum glumaceum (post on that coming soon). For four flowers to have filled the growroom with scent is quite something. Descriptions of the scent include 'raspberry sherbert' which isn't far off the truth. Actually to my nose the scent is exactly the same as you get on some hybrids of Dendrobium nobile (which I no longer grow) but is a lot stronger so you can tell what it is. A bigger plant in full bloom must be quite overpowering up close and I really look forward to smelling it.

There is a new growth emerging, too, so I know the plant is all set to grow away nicely. It will need a dry winter rest for it to bloom well so I'll have to remember to give it that, though I don't believe I need to chill it so that means it can stay in the growroom. As it grows the canes will get quite long so it will probably have to be hung (makes it easier to give it that dry rest). So far, it seems very undemanding. I also have two young plants of the white form of this species (var. dearei) which are also growing away nicely but which don't seem inclined to bloom just yet.