Need help to ID: 20 year old - NOID Dendrobium

[AndreaK]

20 year old - NOID Dendrobium

I need help with an ID!

I believe if something has lived this long it deserves to have a name. I took a picture of this orchid, in flower, in 1996! It is a miniature Dendrobium. The closest I can come to an ID is Dendrobium Affine, at least somewhere in its lineage. Looking at more pictures, the flowers are closer in shape to Dendrobium bigibbum (v. compactum).

Pseudo bulbs: 1 to 3 inches (2inches being the norm.)

Leaves: 2 to 4 per pseudo bulb

Inflorescence: approximately 3 inches long

Flowers: White with purple throat on the lip. Hint of purple on sepal edges (not on all, light exposure seems to effect purple on sepals). 1 or 2 per inflorescence.

Current flowers have been open for one month and are still in excellent condition. New spikes are currently forming. It flowers on new and old growth.

[reliablefool]

No clue, but if it's that old I'm sure there are some pieces that would like to find new homes. :P It is darling and if you've had it for 20 years, then it must love you.

[AndreaK]

Unfortunately, it had a rough go a few years back, so no extra pieces right now. We moved and it was the only orchid to survive from my original collection. A very busy and stressful time which led to extreme neglect in the plant department. It seems to have recovered tremendously this year with 5 spikes and two more on the way.

[reliablefool]

Oh dear, I'm sorry to hear that. Glad it is recovering well.

[stonedragonfarms]

No clue on the name, but going by floral characteristics and the info on its growth pattern, it's either a D. phalaenopsis or D. bigibbum cross

[AndreaK]

Thanks! Does D. Phal. come in a miniature variety? Everything I have read indicates much larger pseudo bulbs for it than mine has grown thus far. The longest mine has ever gotten was 3 1/2 inches long.

[stonedragonfarms]

Poking around a bit more, I'd conjecture it's one of the Den. bigibbum compactum hybrids rather than D. phalaenopsis. Enjoy it, I don't see many of them around much anymore.

[AndreaK]

Thank you for the time you put in helping me identify the orchid. I appreciate it very much!