Dendrobium normanbyense
 

Dendrobiums in the section Latouria are my second favorite group of Dendrobiums next to those in section Spatulata.

This is a new purchase, (got it about a couple days ago), and I got it in bloom. It is Dendrobium normanbyense.

Dendrobium normanbyense is similar looking to Dendrobium atroviolaceum, and for a while, it was sold as "Dendrobium atroviolaceum (pygmy)".

The biggest, most notable difference between Dendrobium atroviolaceum and Dendrobium normanbyense is the size of the plant. Dendrobium normanbyense is the smaller of the 2.

I keep both of these and other laturia. Atroviolaceum 'Pigmy' was given species status recently due to separate geo location & I think charactoristics of the lip. While I don't recal exact conversation there are subtle differences, enough to elevate to a species on its own. There are probably articles online.

Beautiful:-) My atroviolaceum is blooming still since February, the blooms are really long lasting!

Laturia flowers
 

Great. Many of the laturia really last a long time. Enjoy.

Yeah, the flowers do last long. The flowers are fleshy and thick.

This is in contrast to the flowers on Dendrobiums in section Callista. The flowers on many Dendrobiums in section Callista tend to be thin, hence they usually last no longer than 1 week, if that.

Nice! I also love latouria Dens!

The hybrid D. Aussie's Chip is D. aberrans x D. atroviolaceum. As I understand it, Roy Tokunaga decided to remake the cross using the pygmy form of atroviolaceum. He duly labeled the plants as Aussie's Chip. When that form was elevated to species status as D. normanbyense, Roy's cross became a new grex rather than a remake of older one, and he had to rename it - hence Dendrobium Micro Chip. But there seem to be a lot of plants from that remake that were distributed before the renaming of the pygmy form and so are incorrectly named (and shown) as Den. Aussie's Chip.

To those who grow both species, are you able to discern any difference between them other than size?

(I haven't researched the decision to create normanbyense; for all I know, there may be excellent DNA evidence that supports it. I just tend to be suspicious of any splitting done largely on the basis of geographical separation.)

Steve

Really cool!