It came!! :D

[tom499]

Dendrobium amabile syn furcatum (I hope thats right )

Got it discounted, last one left. I didn't believe the 60cm height story but low and behold it was

tea cup for comparison.

Its a cool den but not a nobile so I'm planning to keep it about 11-12 celsius and water sparingly until spring. Its got a new growth, i guess it will just grow slowly.

[patlee]

Tom, Looks pretty darn healthy for a discounted plant--or you are taking excellent care of it. Great blooms and good growing. Congrats!!

[kmarch]

Originally Posted by tom499

Dendrobium amabile syn furcatum (I hope thats right )

Well.....very close but not quite. The abbreviation "syn" means synonym and refers to defunct other names for a given species. As you probably know, in the heyday of orchid collection and description multiple taxonomists described the same plants, often without knowledge of what the other taxonomists were publishing. Since this was before mass communication, individual species often ended up with more than one name. The "rules" of botanical nomenclature say whoever names the plant first "wins." So the name first published becomes the official name and all of the other names become synonyms, obsolete names for the same plant. The term "synonym" or the abbreviation "syn" never appears in a name and is not part of a botanical name like "variety" ("var") or "forma" ("f").

With your plant, the correct name is: Dendrobium furcatum.

Let's see how your Den blooms out. i suspect it might not be furcatum for 2 reasons: 1) Den furcatum is not at all common in cultivation. I've never seen one at a show and don't recall ever seeing one for sale. The Lavarrick/Harris/Stocker book on Dens confirms its rarity in cultivation; and 2) the culture recommendations don't as all match what you were told about the plant.

Both the Lavarrick/Harris/Stocker book and the Baker & Baker Dendrobium Species Culture book describe the plant as a warm growing Den, with night time minimum temps of 16-17C. It comes from one of the Indonesian islands where the temperatures and rainfall is very even all year round. Den furcatum should be kept evenly moist all year round wiht a slight drying between waterings after flowering.

[pikevi]

That looks like a very healthy plant.

The pitchers in the background look very healthy too ....and red!!

How do you propose to bring the temp. down to 11-12 to a section of the room? I'd like to do it too if there is a simple way.

Thank you.

[tom499]

I have a fan that helps bring the temp down a few extra degrees at night.

Very interesting point Kmarch, I had been using Dendrobium amabile as its name to find culture info. Is there any way I could work out which it is from the plant?

i will message the seller and see what they say.

[pikevi]

Just for my info:-

kmarch: Is that the accepted way of writing the name Dendrobium amabile syn furcatum ,where the current accepted name apears as syn.? Or should it have been Dendrobium furcatum syn. amabile?

I am just wondering if one sees an ID tag with a syn. written which name we one should assume as the current name ( the name of tom499's orchid became [Dendrobium furcatum] from [Dendrobium amabile syn furcatum].

Thank you.

[tom499]

Dendrobium amabile, also known as Dend bronkartianum, is a rare species from Indo China. Long lost to cultivation apart from a few plants in European collections, this has now been successfully raised in flask.
One of the orginial parents of the well known Dend mousmee, it is similar in habit and flower to Dendrobium farmerii, but the plants are huge in comparison, to 80 cm tall, with large grape like clusters of white flowers flushed pink and the yellow orange labellum.
Best grown under intermediate conditions, in a basket or well drained pot in a media that will saty damp but not wet. A drier rest during the cooler months will promote flowering in the Spring.

Items of interest for species orchid fanatics

IOSPE PHOTOS

Den. amabile - Orchid Gallery Forum - GardenWeb

This is the confusion I face

[pikevi]

Yours looks much healthier than the ones in the links

They say they are found at elevation 1200 metres and also say they are warm growing. Would that be a right statement?

BTW, the flowers look great.

[tom499]

Warm to intermediate seems right, but theres this issue of a winter break or not.

Giving it a cool winter may give it a nice rest or kill it. I cant find any info on the furcatum so Kmarch is right its very unlikely to be that. But, what is this other amabile thats coming up, if it should be called furcatum :S

[Cynthia, Prescott, AZ]

Well, I have D. amabile from Water Orchids. Looking at Baker's book, there is amabile (Loureiro) O'Brien, and D furcatum .. syn. amabile Schlechter. Tom's looks very much like mine. I have summarized Bakers notes on amabile O'Brien, which I probably have, as intermediate, but Dec thu Feb, cool, high light and slightly dry out. This is hardly a 'dry' rest.

Looks like the obvious difference between them is that amabile O'Brien has a pendulous spike, and furcatum has an upright spike.

So I think you should be safe giving your plant regular waterings in winter, as I am doing, just not every 2nd or 3rd day watering as I do in summer.

[tizzycat]

Congratulations Tom, that's some plant.

Is your Mum still standing (just kidding)

[tom499]

She has yet to see it This one is gonna be harder to hide!

[tom499]

I think this may be the cause of the mix up:

"Interesting one, a quick search on Kews database, reveals that there is one accepted Dendrobium amabile (Dendrobium amabile (Lour.) O'Brien, Gard. Chron., III, 46: 393 (1909)) and one that is not accepted (Dendrobium amabile Schltr., Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. 8: 505 (1910), nom. illeg.) but which instead is synonymous to D. furcatum (Dendrobium furcatum Reinw. ex Lindl., J. Proc. Linn. Soc., Bot. 3: 13 (1859). "

[kmarch]

Originally Posted by tom499

Very interesting point Kmarch, I had been using Dendrobium amabile as its name to find culture info. Is there any way I could work out which it is from the plant?

Maybe I didn't make myself clear in the previous post. Den amabile is a defunct, obsolete, synonym for Den furcatum. Den amabile and furcatum are different names for the the same plant, but Den furcatum is the recognized, correct one and amabile is the obsolete synonym. they are not different plants nor are they different forms of the same plant.

I would try to find out for sure if it is Den furcatum before you chill it down to 11C. If it is indeed Den furcatum then the cold temps and the drying out that you are saying you'll give it will probably kill it.

[kmarch]

Originally Posted by pikevi

Is that the accepted way of writing the name Dendrobium amabile syn furcatum ,where the current accepted name apears as syn.? Or should it have been Dendrobium furcatum syn. amabile?

It is not the accepted way of writing the name. As I stated above, the word "synonym" and/or the abbreviation "syn" are not parts of a plant's botanical name and they should not be used. Only the correct, recognized name, in this case Dendrobium furcatum, should be used. Synonyms never appear together in a botanical name.

Originally Posted by pikevi

I am just wondering if one sees an ID tag with a syn. written which name we one should assume as the current name ( the name of tom499's orchid became [Dendrobium furcatum] from [Dendrobium amabile syn furcatum].

If you see a tag like tom499's with "syn" on it you simply have to go do your homework and find out what the correct name of the plant is. Writing this sort of thing on a tag is erroneous to begin with so you can't tell by looking at the tag which is the proper name. Your only choice is to look it up in an authoritative text or better yet in Monocots Checklist of Species.

[pikevi]

Thank you, kmarch.

It seems the tags used by the growers are not always dependable.

It is a bit taxing on those who are new to orchid growing

[tom499]

Originally Posted by Cynthia, Prescott, AZ

Well, I have D. amabile from Water Orchids. Looking at Baker's book, there is amabile (Loureiro) O'Brien, and D furcatum .. syn. amabile Schlechter. Tom's looks very much like mine. I have summarized Bakers notes on amabile O'Brien, which I probably have, as intermediate, but Dec thu Feb, cool, high light and slightly dry out. This is hardly a 'dry' rest.

Looks like the obvious difference between them is that amabile O'Brien has a pendulous spike, and furcatum has an upright spike.

So I think you should be safe giving your plant regular waterings in winter, as I am doing, just not every 2nd or 3rd day watering as I do in summer.

The spike you describe is how It appears on the sellers page and on the internet.

With the Kew gardens database and Cynthia's post I can't see how D. amabile simply doesn't exist. I have since found other sellers who have this plant on offer.

[tom499]

All sorted now

D. amabile exists, is a cool grower of min 10c and has a cool dry winter, flowering in spring.