This species comes from Papua island. I have two variants in my collection. The more popular is the red one (on left side), and the other one is an alba (on the right side), which is rarer. The bulb could grow very long (more than 1 meter). In my garden, the bulb of the red one is 2 meters long, and the white one is 1 meter. The flowers come within a group of small flower on each node of leafless bulb, and whenever I see them, they remind me of furball, very cute indeed.The flowers could last for one month and they come twice a year.
(Ferdi)
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| Dendrobium purpureum. Photo courtesy by Ferdi. |
Homotypic Synonyms:
- Dendrobium purpureum Roxb., Fl. Ind. ed. 1832, 3: 484 (1832).
- Callista purpurea (Roxb.) Kuntze, Revis. Gen. Pl. 2: 655 (1891).
- Pedilonum purpureum (Roxb.) Brieger, Schlechter Orchideen 1(11-12): 679 (1981).
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| Dendrobium purpureum album. Photo courtesy by Ferdi. |
Varian Dendrobium purpureu :
Dendrobium purpureum (Raf.) M.R.Almeida, Fl. Maharashtra 5A: 40 (2009), nom. illeg.
Dendrobium purpureum var. album Sander, Gard. Chron., III, 79: 444 (1926).
Dendrobium purpureum subsp. candidulum (Rchb.f.) Dauncey & P.J.Cribb, Kew Bull. 48: 554 (1993).
Dendrobium purpureum var. candidulum Rchb.f., Gard. Chron., n.s., 2: 701 (1887).
Dendrobium purpureum var. moseleyi Hemsl., Gard. Chron., n.s., 21: 604 (1884).
Dendrobium purpureum subsp. purpureum.
Dendrobium purpureum var. steffensianum Schltr., Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. 10: 81 (1911).
Names in bold indicate accepted names
Distribution:
Maluku to New Guinea (Kep. Aru)
42 MOL 43 NWG
Lifeform:
Pseudobulb epiphyte
