Name:	Dendrobium compactum var. gouldii x D. Udom Blue Angel	Seed parent:	Dendrobium compactum var. gouldii
Date acquired:	February 2003	Pollen parent:	Dendrobium Udom Blue Angel
Source:	Jewel-Osco (grower unknown)	Season:	Winter
Container:	8" clay pot	Climate:	Intermediate

28 August 2004

5 November 2004




3 June 2005

This dark blue-purple beauty is a Dendrobium compactum var. gouldii x D. Udom Blue Angel.  I picked up this little jewel from the local Jewel about an hour after it had arrived.  I'm glad I did; I'd never seen such a nice, dark color on an orchid.  It flowered for me in February and December of 2003 and started flowering again in July 2004.  By the time the first flower stalk had faded, two more flower stalks (from old grownth) had begun to bloom, and they lasted into the new year.  This spring, it sent up two spikes, one with 21 flowers and the other with five.  As those faded, it put up another one with twelve flowers that lasted over halfway through September.  This plant has surprised me yet again by putting up a second pair of new growths this year, and an offset as well.

This plant has a curious habit when it flowers.  The buds develop with the lip pointing up, and as they mature and the flower opens most of them rotate 180° so the lip is pointing down.  It seems that about one in eight will keep the lip pointing up, so they're non-resupinate (upside-down) when they bloom.

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