I just picked up a specimen of this, and another nobile type
dendrobium; and have some questions.

Do these produce keikis? On the himezura, on the old cane, there are
two new growths, that are clearly not inflorescences, coming out of
two of the nodes. The very tips of these growths look like nascent
leaves. Am I right in guessing that these are keikis? At present,
they are each about 2 cm in length. I am happy with this specimen
because, even though there are only two canes, and only the larger of
the two has leaves, there are inflorescences growing out of each of
more than a dozen nodes, and there are plenty of leaves on the younger
cane. The other doesn't have nearly as many inflorescences
developing, but it has two new canes, and all but the oldest of the
canes have plenty of leaves.

How do the cultural requirements for nobile dendrobiums compare with
those for PODs? (think acronym: POD = plain ol' dendrobium :-), if
it isn't too obscene to refer to an orchid as plain :-) ) Will they
like a south facing window in the frigid north? :-)

Also, I notice on the tag for hamezakura that it is patented by some
company in Hawaii. I didn't know there was such a thing as patents on
species or races of plants. What is your take on patenting living
things?

Cheers,

Ted

Himezakura is a Yamamoto hybrid nobile dendrobium, and several of these have
been patented.
All dendrobiums will make keikis, but when one sees many on nobiles it is due
to too much N, or not enough sunlight.
One parent of this grex was Cassiope, made with Oberon, in 1995, which was made
using moniliforme, back in 1890, so this alters the cultural requirements
considerably, making it a nobile type, but not demanding the intense cold and
drying in the fall and winter of the standard nobile.
This is in keeping with Yamamoto's efforts in recent years to develope nobile
types which are smaller and more adaptable to growing conditions.