| Dendrobium Orchid
The genus Dendrobium is prolific and diverse, comprising some one hundred
species, which vary greatly in size and shape. It contains D. violaceoflavens
(vie-o-lay-see-o-flay-vens), with sixteen-foot pseudo bulbs, and D. Schneideri
(sh'ny-der-eye or ee), measured in inches. It ranges from southern Asia,
particularly the Sikkhim region, through Ceylon, Malaya, Siam, China,
Japan, all the large islands (the Philippines, Java, Sumatra, Borneo),
and even some of the small islands, to Australia and New Zealand.
A single species has been found to adjust itself to entirely different
places. Members of the genus grow on trees, in the ground, and on bare
rocks, through great extremes of temperature and elevation. Some have
been found as high as 1500 to 2000 feet in Burma at 1200 F.
The Dendrobium plant is unusual in appearance, being sym-podial, epiphytic,
and bulb less, but possessed of heavy cane-like stems, which also produce
the papery-green leaves. Especially in the deciduous types these canes
store sufficient moisture and food to tide the plant over periods of extreme
drought.
The genus is divided into deciduous and evergreen, which again divides
into warm- and cool-growing plants. All evergreen Den-drobes (the name
affectionately given the genus by orchid growers) are handsome plants
with their leafy, graceful foliage.
Dendrobes have cane-like stems, taking the place of pseudo bulbs, and
bear the flowers in erect panicles (clusters, as of grapes), singly at
the nodes, or in drooping racemes (stems with flowers attached at intervals).
Evergreen Dendrobiums may be accommodated in the warm house.
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