Dendrobium venustum Teijsm. & Binn. 1864 SECTION Stachyobium
Photos by © Manorot Tangsaveepha and his Butterfly & Orchids Photo Gallery
Flower Closeup Photos by © Lourens Grobler
Inflorescence Photo by David Bealer
To 
to EARLY 
Common Name The Lovely Dendrobium
Flower Size to 1" [to 2.5 cm]
Found in Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam at elevations of 300 to 500 meters as a medium sized, hot to warm growing epiphyte with arching or pendulous stems carrying to 7, oblong or strap like, leathery, glossy, bright green leaves that blooms in the summer and early fall on a terminal, arching to horizontally spreading, 6 to 12" [15 to 30 cm] long, few to many [5 to 25] flowered inflorescence that arises from the nodes near the apex of the leafy cane for 2 to 3 months in the early winter
Water and fertilizer should be reduced in the fall and for the end of the winter reduce water even more and eliminate fertilizer until new growth appears in the spring.
There are 3 very similar species if only the flowers are looked at, D delacourii, D simondii and D venustum. They are easily separated when the plants are taken into account. D delacourtii is 4" [10 cm] and under and has a terminal inflorescence carrying flowers with a wide open lip that is not inrolled around the column. D simondii is a 4 to 12" [10 to 30 cm] plant with leaves broadest towards apex and slightly obliquely bilobulate apex and has an inflorescence that arises from the upper leaf axils and has flowers with the mid lobe of the lip that is open around the column. D venustum has a 12 to 18" [30 to 45 cm] stem and has narrowly oblong leaves and blooms on a terminal flowering inflorescence with the lip more closed around the column
Synonyms Callista ciliata Kuntze 1891; Dendrobium ciliatum Parish ex Hooker 1864; Dendrobium ciliferum Bakh. 1963;
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Otia Botanica Hamburgensia Rchb.f 1878 as D ciliatum var rupicola; Orchids of Burma Grant 1895/1995 as D ciliatum; Orchidaceae Monandre-Dendrobiinae Fr. Kraenzlin 1910 as D ciliatum; Orchidaceae Monandre-Dendrobiinae Fr. Kraenzlin 1910; Die Orchideen Schlechter 1915 as D ciliatum photo ok; Die Orchideen 2 Auflage Schlechter 1927 as D ciliatum photo ok; The Orchids of Thailand Seidenfaden & Smitinand 1960; AOS Bulletin Vol 51 No 4 1982; Opera Botanica #83 Orchid Genera in Thailand XII Dendrobium Sw. Seidenfaden 1985 drawing fide/photo ok; Identification of the Orchids [Orchidaceae Juss.] Vietnam Averyanov 1994; Orchid Species Culture; Dendrobium Bakers 1996; Dendrobium and its Relatives Lavarack, Harris and Stocker 2000 photo fide; Australian Orchid Review Vol 66 No 4 2001 photo; A to Z of South East Asian Orchid Species Vol 1 O'Byrne 2001 photo fide; A Field Guide to the Wild Orchids of Thailand Vaddhanaphuti 2001 photo good; Botanica's Orchids 2002 photo fide; A field Guide to the Wild Orchids of Thailand Vaddhanaphuti 2005 photo good; The Dendrobiums H. P. Wood 2006 photo fide
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