This genus consists of approximately 1100 named species, making DENDROBIUM the second largest genus in the Orchid family. Members of the genus vary tremendously in plant, flower form, size, flower color and fragrance. Plants are distributed in the wild from sea level lands or river banks to high elevation rain forests or snowy mountain ranges. The cultural requirements are variable, so we recommend careful research to obtain as much specific information as possible regarding the peculiar needs of each type. Please consider the suggestion list under "Recommended Reading'' below.

Nobile dendrobiums can be grown and flowered in the home or greenhouse. They do, however, have rather specific cultural requirements. When those requirements are met, they will produce a profusion of sweet-scented, long-lasting flowers that can appear from fall through spring.

Wondering where to cut your Dendrobium orchid spike after it flowers? You are not alone!  We get lots of questions about Dendrobium spikes. Dendrobiums are very diverse anatomically and I suspect many folks simply aren't sure where the spike ends and the stem begins. So I am going to show you two common types of Dendrobium and where to cut their spikes. It's pretty simple.

Of all the types of orchids a beginning grower may acquire, dendrobiums will probably be the most challenging to learn to grow and flower.  The reason is that the genus Dendrobium (den-DROH-bee-um) contains more than 1,000 species and is exceedingly diverse.

Dendrobium is a huge genus of orchids. It was established by Olof Swartz in 1799 and today contains about 1,200 species. The genus occurs in diverse habitats throughout much of south, east and southeast Asia, including China, Japan, India, the Philippines, Indonesia, Australia, New Guinea, Vietnam, and many of the islands of the Pacific.The name is from the Greek dendron ("tree") and bios ("life"); it means "one who lives on trees", or, essentially, "epiphyte".

Dendrobium is a diverse genus of orchids with different cultural needs. This culture information is for the phalenopsis-type dendrobiums pictured above. They are evergreen with thin, tall stems (pseudobulbs).

Dendrobiums are native to a huge area in Asia, ranging from southern Japan and the eastern foothills of the Himalaya south into India, the Indo-China peninsula, Malaysia, Indonesia, New Guinea and Australia. In this large range, there are at least 1,000 species, inhabiting virtually every tropical and subtropical habitat, so it is impossible to generalize about their cultural requirements. Some live in areas that are warm all year long, some grow in cool cloud-forests. Some thrive in conditions that are generally moist all or most of the year, some are adapted to sharply seasonal wet/dry cycles. We grow many dendrobiums from the warm to intermediate temperature habitats, and we’ll share our experience with some of these extraordinarily beautiful orchids.