Dendrobium nobile Lindl.

Taxonomic Identity and Growth Form

Dendrobium nobile Lindl. is a sympodial orchid that grows pseudobulbs. After one stem stops growing, new shoots develop from its base, and this repeating cycle forms a clump of multiple stems.

Inflorescence Structure

This species has an erect inflorescence, with blooms growing along the full length of the flowering stem.

Leaf Traits and Flowering Period

It produces strap-shaped, long-lasting persistent leaves, and flowers mostly during winter and spring.

Flower Arrangement

Its flowers are arranged in short racemes that hold 2 to 4 blooms each.

Flower Characteristics

The flowers are fragrant, waxy, and have highly variable coloration, ranging from white to pink and purple.

Cultivated Variety Traits

The many cultivated varieties of this orchid produce blooms of different sizes and colors.

Native Range

Dendrobium nobile is an epiphytic or lithophytic species native to southern China (including Tibet), the Himalayas (covering India, Bangladesh, Assam, Nepal, Bhutan), and Indochina (covering Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam).

Naturalized Range

It is also reportedly naturalized in Hawaii.

Habitat Preferences

This orchid grows in lowland and mountain forests, most often on mossy limestone rocks.

Ornamental Use

It has become a popular decorative cultivated house plant, because it produces colorful blooms in winter and spring, when few other plants are flowering.

Cold Hardiness

It is a tender plant that can only survive winter outdoors in USDA hardiness zones 11 and warmer.

Cultivation and Conservation Collections

Examples of Dendrobium nobile are grown in the Tropical Nursery at Kew Gardens in London, and its seeds are stored in the Millennium Seed Bank at the site.