Looking for furry den species

[Rothrock42]

I've seen a couple of dendrobiums that have hairs on the backside of the sepals.

• Dendrobium finisterrae
• Dendrobium macrophyllum/polysema (synonyms?)

Trying to track these down, but not finding anybody who has them in stock. Anybody know where I might get them or are there other similar dens that I should be looking at.

Also any suggestions on growing? I grow in the house both with natural and lights.

[fishmom]

I have a hybrid--Den. finisterre x polysema. Now named Den. Yellow Stars. I got it from H & R Nursery. Not only is it furry, but it has weird papery sheathing on the pseudobulbs which loosens as the bulb matures. One of the most intriguing plants I own.

[Rothrock42]

fishmom that sounds awesome. Doesn't look like they have that on their list now, but I'll check in with them. Thanks for the lead. They do have Den. polysema species.

[fishmom]

Couple of pics from blooms last November.

[SaraJean]

Clown Alley Orchids has the Den polysema and H&R Nurseries has a macrophyllum. Though the flowers are similar, they are different orchid species. The coloration of the flowers is a bit different and the polysema is a much smaller, more compact grower than the macrophyllum

[Regelian]

There are quite a few setose (latin for haired or bristled) Section Latouria Dendrobiums. They all come from the area around New Guinea and can be warm to cool growers, but do need species specific temps to truly thrive. Look for D. eximium, D. finisterrae, D. macrophyllum, D. setigerum, D. forbesii (slightly setose) and D. polysema. In hybrids they tend to pass on the bristled gene.

The species may be difficult to ID, unless you have a reference for lip shapes and plant size. As an example, the difference between setigerum and macrophyllum (which has varieties) is the two-leaved bulbs in setigerum and comes from the Philippines. Some authours do not seperate the two and macrophyllum has precidence. It is the most widespread of the Latouria, found from the Philippines down to New Guinea and found from warm to cool conditions (sea level to 1700m).

All of them like to be kept evenly moist with only a short dryish rest in Winter. In nature they are always under humid conditions, thus never really dry.
This group (Latouria) is currently becoming popular and hybrids pop-up regularly. If they are interesting, get a few seedlings, as they quickly disappear from the market as the hybridizing moves on.

Here are picture of what i grow as D. macrophyllum and D. setigerum. Look carefully at the lips, how they wrap around the column and the markings. Very close, but seperable.
Jamie