RaT,
Part of the problem is that the flowers of the Phalaenopsis orchid resemble
those of the Dendrobium Phalaenopsis orchid -- yes there is a kind of
Dendrobium that is called a Dendrobium Phalaenopsis, but it is still a
Dendrobium and not a Phalaenopsis. Pretty confusing for beginners, since
Phals and Dends require different care.
When trying to determine whether you have a Phal or a Dend, pay attention to
the leaves and not the flower. Do the leaves all come out from approximately
one central point (called the "crown")? If yes, it is a Phal. Or do the
leaves seem to come out from different points along "canes" -- a stem sort
of like a bamboo cane only thicker than bamboo. Not sure whether I am
describing this well, but: There is basically a kind of stem that the leaves
grow out of and there may well be more than one such stem with leaves.
Whereas a Phal is going to just have leaves (and if you plucked off all the
leaves there would be almost nothing left -- don't do that, by the way. :-)
The following links include drawings or photos of Phalaenopsis and
Dendrobium -- pay attention to the leaves and not the flowers when looking
at these drawings and photos, and see whether your plant looks like one of
them. These links also include culture information for how to care for these
once you establish which it is.
Phalaenopsis
http://www.canadianorchidcongress.ca...laenopsis.html
or
http://www.aos.org/aos/uploadedfiles...lturephals.pdf
or
http://www.gflora.com/index.php?cmd=...y&genus_id=202
or
http://www.infojardin.com/plantas_de...alaenopsis.jpg
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Dendrobium
http://www.canadianorchidcongress.ca...endrobium.html
or
http://www.aos.org/aos/uploadedfiles...redendrobe.pdf
or
http://www.gflora.com/index.php?cmd=...y&genus_id=183
or
http://www.infojardin.com/plantas_de...dendrobium.jpg
I hope this helps.
Best,
Joanna
"RaT" wrote in message
...
The orchid is similar to the one the right in this picture
http://www.math.ucla.edu/~jimc/image...orchids-1.jpeg
and this one
http://www.windycityart.com/recent/o...20painting.jpg
hope this may help to identify it