The popular and relatively easy-to-grow orchid known as Dendrobium speciosum has undergone a name change during a major taxonomic revision of the Dendrobium group and is now renamed Thelychiton speciosus.
The epithet speciosus means beautiful and is in reference to the great racemes of showy cream flowers that are borne from the plant’s crown of 2-5 dark-green leaves. These tough, oblong-shaped leaves arise at the top of attractive laterally ribbed canes that can grow to approximately 40cm high.
Much of T. speciosus’s popular appeal lies in its flowers. Individually these are beautiful, being cream to yellow on the outer of the petals and sepals and tending to a reflective white toward the center. The lower petal, the labellum, is attractively spotted with purple. But the flowering stem of the plant produces up to 120 of these flowers many of which may be open at once, producing a spectacular floral show. The exact time of flowering depends on the regions climate. In its cooler distribution flowering occurs from September to October, though this may be earlier in warmer places.
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