Dendrobium agathodaemonis

Dick Warren, of Equatorial plant company. I have a nice clump originally received as in vitro plantlet, 4-5 years ago. It grows fairly well, but no sign of bloom so far, 3-4 years after deflasking.

 

Interesting...I received flasks from him back in the late 1980's. At the time I was not gifted in deflasking and none made it to maturity.

 

Hello Uluwehi, very good thoughts you have posted and why I like this forum as it causes me to step back and reflect. I spoke with Darrin Norton (Mountain Orchids) and he expressed similar views as yours. I must admit that I have only seen a few clones labeled agathodaemonis over the last 2-3 decades and they are morphologically very distinct from what I have typically seen as cuthbertsonii. So one could easily theorize it is a distinct species or at least a varietal form. Obviously wild population data would be quite helpful. If agathodaemonis was considered a species, do you see any possibility that the intermediates could be natural hybrids between agathodaemonis and cuthbertsonii?

 

Thank you, Chuck. Dendrobium agathodæmonis was already once a species (1910) but later found out to be heterotypically synonymous with D. cuthbertsonii. Based on the conclusions of the taxonomists and my own observations, I accept cuthbertsonii as a species that includes a wide range of morphological variation and not a hybrid swarm. Seeing the variation is very illuminating; someday I'll get round to showing examples.

They're all so wonderful. I'm glad I live in an age where I can grow cuthbertsonii.