Dendrobium aphyllum - Leafless Dendrobium

Leafless Dendrobium is an orchid found often on orchard trees in open lowlands, in the Himalayas and NE India. It is a small to medium sized, hot growing epiphyte with thin pendulous stems carrying many, thin, lance- shaped, deciduous leaves. The plant blooms on the nodes of leafless stems after the leaves have dropped occuring in the late spring. Flowers are 4-5 cm across and open widely with a pleasant fragrance. The sepals and petals are somewhat translucent, yellowish cream to whitish, more or less strongly covered and marked with pinkish violet. The lip is trumpet-shaped, variable in width, 2.0-3.7 cm when spread, pale yellow or less often white, whitish at the base, with dark violet branching veins inside the tube-shaped part. Lip is densely covered with soft, short hair outside and along the margins. The flowers are flimsy and short lived, lasting about a week.