Coelogyne cobbiana

Late November in our 'Cloud Forest Greenhouse' belongs to Coelogyne cobbiana with its long sharply pendulous stems of fragrant creamy white flowers.

We have always known Coelogyne cobbiana as Dendrochilum cobbianum but Dendrochilum has recently been included in Coelogyne and the close affinity to the larger flowered traditional Coelogynes can be seen in this pretty flowers with their sulphur yellow lips. 

Coelogyne cobbiana is endemic to the Philippines where it is found growing in wet forest above 1200m. We grow the species cool (minimum 12C) although in the past we have grown plants warmer where they do equally well as well as long as they are kept well watered. An unusual feature of this species is that it  grows during the winter when a lot of cooler orchid habitats have a dry season but its Philippines habitat is wet throughout the year and we replicate this in cultivation.

The flowers are long lasting and fragrant with hints of vanilla so smell nicer than many of the ex Dendrochilum Coelogynes.

Plants flower small but develop into lovely specimens with their crowded pseudobulbs. The flowers emerge from the centre of new growths and our clone of cobbiana benefits from lovely dark green leaves that set off the flowers beautifully.