Orchidaceae ID
 

Can someone please help me with Orchid ID

I'll provide with the scarce info I think or got (which may be wrong)

Cambria xxx
Dendrobium cleopatra??
Dendrobium nobile==

Thank you very much for your time!

The first one is in the Oncidium alliance I think. The white one is a Dendrobium nobile hybrid. The last one is a Dendrobium also but it is not a nobile type. If they don't have tags with a hybrid name on it the best you will get is what genus they belong to. So they would be NoIDs. There are too many hybrids that look alike to be able to tell you for sure what hybrids they are.

Thanks!
They were just labelled as "Cabria", "Dendrobium" & "Dendrobium" spp when I bought them a few weeks ago.
I am quite new to this hobby, though I do far better in cultivating corals and bonsai and hopefully understand some basic BIO (and that ID from pics are not always sufficient)

The first is indeed Oncidium alliance, possibly a Colmanara of some kind. They are often sold generically under the name "Cambria Orchid." Beyond that a positive ID is impossible but will help with the culture. The other Dendrobium looks like it is a Phalaenopsis type.

Thank you!
So strange that shops cant ID properly. In the coral industry (with millions of species) which are sold in low turnover,, are better labelled.
The shop also had a few Oncidium species, but obviously didnt recognize this as one of those.
But I for sure rather listen to you.

The Oncidium species prefers a bit higher temperatures than cambria species (in general) right?

And if I also understand you right, the two other dendros are hydbrids and not real species.. A bit turndown since I always prefer real material, but they do look nice at least :p

None of them are species. I think you are right about the "Oncidium" but it is not a species either. It is very complex hybrid that probably includes Oncidium and Miltoniopsis, possibly Odontoglossum and Brassia.

Should have added that species are rarely found in shops such as the place where you bought these, n ot only because they are a bit more difficult to grow in many cases, but also because many of them have more definite blooming seasons and are not produced for mass marketing.

The British (and I suppose, much of Europe) have somewhat confused things by calling almost every oncidinae intergeneric hybrid a "cambria" in conversation. This is derived from an early and famous intergeneric hybrid Vulstekeara Cambria. (at least thats the way it looks from this side of the pond)

I was wondering about that because I have never heard or seen an Oncidium be referred to as a Cambria orchid.

AOL keyword/"species". Stick with species orchids if you can.;)
Many species are vanishing in the wild and the trade/hobby continues to promote hybrids and crosses (mutts). It makes no sense to me.

No, it makes no sense to me either, except of course, that many species would not mass market very very well.

Thank you very much for info guys :))

Sad that it is not possible to make a biotop terrarium, and sad that species are disappearing.
But since Im a newcoming to this hobby, I can be somewhat glad for easier varieties to keep I suppose.

Species orchids will tend to be in a niche market for a very long time unless somebody can figure out a way to get them into the mainstream without hurting wild populations of orchids. People who start off with orchids are not familiar enough with the large numbers of orchid families out there to even know what to get.

Some species are difficult to grow, but not all, that is a half-truth. There are quite a few that are so easy to grow, you wonder where this, "species orchids are harder to grow than hybrids" saying comes from.

While there are some species orchids that have a definite flowering period, there are quite a few that don't and can bloom off-and-on, without much effort on your part, throughout the course of the year.

Many species orchids are smaller flowered than their hybrid cousins. But there are a few species orchids with flowers that are fairly large. For example, Phramipedium kovachii has flowers that are around 5" across! Disa uniflora has flowers that are 3" - 4" across! Cattleya leuddemaniana has flowers that are anywhere around 4" - 5" across!

I hate to say it, but I think marketing plays a far larger role in species orchids being in a niche market than any of the things I've mentioned about species orchids above. It does appear that marketing species orchids seems to either be somewhat tricky or the effort isn't really being made to do so for whatever reasons.

I think it comes down to; if you have an excellent sales agent, they have the skills and training to sell you dirt and make money off of it.

Again...

Some of them are difficult to grow for a beginner. Some of them are very, very easy - much easier to grow than their hybrid counterparts!!!

I'll tell you one of the easier species orchids that occasionally makes its way into the many big box stores' garden centers here in the States, and many people here in the US probably didn't even know that it was an orchid to begin with!

What is that species orchid?

Bletilla striata

Yes, that's correct. Bletilla striata is a species orchid, and it is undoubtedly a terrestrial orchid at that!!!

It goes unnoticed by hundreds of people who may go to the racks full of Phalaenopsis, Cymbidium, Oncidium, and/or Cattleya hybrids in a place like The Home Depot and admire the beauty of those plants, but for Bletilla striata, it'd be lucky if a few people pick up the bag to take a look at it.

Bletilla striata can be seen from time-to-time being sold amongst ordinary spring bulbs along with the irises, daffodils, lilies, amaryllis, anemones, tulips, hyacinths, and such. The draw here is that, they are super inexpensive!

Although the flowers aren't as large as 5" across, they are brilliantly colored a bright magenta.

So, again, why isn't this orchid noticed over the sea of hybrids? I think it's due to poor marketing. I think species orchids in general get a bad rap and not enough recognition. It also doesn't help that a large number of species orchids are novelties because they are miniatures, and have no chance of being "a garden staple".

I'll add another thing...This one factor, alone, especially hurts the prominence of species orchids in the hobby - over generalizing things. Not all species orchids are plain looking. Not all species orchids are small flowered. Not all species orchids are hard to grow. Not all species orchids need extremely specialized care. Not all species orchids are tropical plants. Not all species orchid need to be grown in a greenhouse. Not all species orchids have a definite bloom period, or bloom only once a year.

What "the masses" don't realize is that Orchidaceae (orchids) is one of the larger groups of plants on this planet. There is probably only one other group of flowering plants that rivals the sheer number of diversity within the family! We're talking upwards of 25,000 species strong in Orchidaceae!!!

Thank you for thorough info :)