Dendrobium

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 the Philippines, Borneo, Australia, New Guinea, Solomon Islands and New Zealand. The name is from the Greek dendron ("tree") and bios ("life"); it means "one who lives on trees", or, essentially, "epiphyte".
In 1981, Briegar reclassified all terete-leaved Dendrobiums from Australia and New Guinea into a new genus, Dockrillia. The Winika orchid from New Zealand was formerly D. cunninghamii, but has now been moved into a monotypic genus Winika. In 1989, Clements upgraded the D. speciosum complex into individual species;^[1] similarly, the D. bigibbum complex (which contains the well-known Cooktown Orchid of Australia, D. phalaenopsis) has recently been split up.

Selected species

• Dendrobium anosmum – Unscented Dendrobium - misnomer
• Dendrobium bilobum
• Dendrobium bukidnonensis– Bukidnon Dendrobium
• Dendrobium bullenianum – Bullen's Orange Dendrobium
• Dendrobium candidum
• Dendrobium cariniferum
• Dendrobium ceraula – Horned Dendrobium
• Dendrobium chameleon – Chameleon-like Dendrobium
• Dendrobium chrysanthum
• Dendrobium conanthum
• Dendrobium crispilinguum
• Dendrobium crumenatum – Pigeon Orchid, Sparrow Orchid, Bag-shaped Dendrobium, "dove orchid"
• Dendrobium cuthbertsonii – Cuthbertson's Dendrobium
• Dendrobium dearei – Deare's Dendrobium
• Dendrobium erosum
• Dendrobium epidendropsis from the Philippines
• Dendrobium euryanthum
• Dendrobium fairchildae – Fairchild's Dendrobium
• Dendrobium forbesii
• Dendrobium formosum
• Dendrobium gerlandianum
• Dendrobium gibsonii
• Dendrobium goldschmidtianum – Goldschmidt's Dendrobium
• Dendrobium guerreroi – Guerrero's Dendrobium
• Dendrobium hellwigianum
• Dendrobium hercoglossum
• Dendrobium heterocarpum – Different fruits Dendrobium
• Dendrobium hymenophyllum
• Dendrobium ionopus – Violet scented Dendrobium
• Dendrobium johnsoniae
• Dendrobium junceum Philippine endemic
• Dendrobium kingianum – Pink Rock Orchid, Captain King's Dendrobium, Pink Rock Lily (sometimes separated in Thelychiton)
• Dendrobium lindleyi – Lindley's Dendrobium (formerly D. aggregatum)
• Dendrobium lineale
• Dendrobium lituiflorum
• Dendrobium loddigesii – Loddiges' Dendrobium
• Dendrobium macrophyllum – Large leafed Dendrobium
• Dendrobium milaniae native of Mount Pangasugan in the Philippine
• Dendrobium mindanaense – Mindanao island Dendrobium
• Dendrobium miyasakii – Miyaki's Dendrobium
• Dendrobium nobile – Noble Dendrobium
• Dendrobium papilio – Butterfly Dendrobium
• Dendrobium parthenium
• Dendrobium pendulum
• Dendrobium pentapterum
• Dendrobium phalaenopsis – Cooktown Orchid (formerly D. bigibbum var. phalaenopsis, D. bigibbum var. superbum) - now classified as Vappodes phalaenopsis
• Dendrobium philippinensis– Philippine Dendrobium
• Dendrobium phillippsii – Phillips' Dendrobium
• Dendrobium platycaulon – Flat Cane Dendrobium
• Dendrobium polysema
• Dendrobium profusum – Profused' Dendrobium
• Dendrobium ramosii – Ramos' Dendrobium
• Dendrobium sanderae – Sander's Dendrobium
• Dendrobium sanguinolentum
• Dendrobium schuetzei – Schuetz's Dendrobium
• Dendrobium secundum
• Dendrobium seratilabium – Serrated Lip Dendrobium
• Dendrobium sinense
• Dendrobium speciosum – Outstanding Dendrobium, King Orchid, Rock Lily
• Dendrobium taurinum – Bulls Head Dendrobium
• Dendrobium thyrsiflorum
• Dendrobium thysanophorum
• Dendrobium uniflorum – Single flowered Dendrobium
• Dendrobium velutinalabrum
• Dendrobium victoriae-reginae – Queen Victoria's Dendrobium
• Dendrobium wangliangii – May 2006 by Liang Wang (Chinese: 王亮)
• Dendrobium wenzellii – Wenzell's Dendrobium
• Dendrobium yeagerei – Yeager's Dendrobium
•  

  Other uses by humans

  
  

  

  Noble Dendrobium, Dendrobium nobile^{[verification needed]}
  Some Dendrobium species are grown as medical plants. The Noble Dendrobium (D. nobile) for example is one of the 50 fundamental herbs used in traditional Chinese medicine, where it is known as shí hú (石斛) or shí hú lán (石斛兰).
  Many species and cultivars of this genus are well-known floral emblems and have been figured in artwork. Among the former are:
  
• Dendrobium formosum (Beautiful giant-flowered dendrobium) – emblem of Ranong Province (Thailand)
• Dendrobium 'Kim il Sung'^{[verification needed]} (Kimilsungia) – emblem of North Korea
• Dendrobium moniliforme (Sekikoku) – emblem of Matsushima, Miyagi (Japan)
• Dendrobium nobile (Noble Dendrobium) – emblem of Sikkim (India)
• Dendrobium biggibum (Cooktown Orchid, anggrek larat) – emblem of Maluku province (Indonesia) and Queensland (Australia).
• Dendrobium utile^{[verification needed]} (locally known as anggrek serat) – emblem of the Indonesian province of South East Sulawesi

The Cooktown Orchid was figured on Australian stamps in 1968 and 1998, and several Dendrobium cultivars are depicted on the obverse side of the Singapore Orchid Series currency notes issued between 1967 and 1976:

• Dendrobium Marjorie Ho – S$10 [1]
• Dendrobium Shangri-La – S$500 [2]
• Dendrobium Kimiyo Kondo – S$1000 [3]

The Golden-bow Dendrobium (D. chrysotoxum), colloquially called "Fried-egg Orchid" was one of the species grown by the fictional private detective and orchid fancier Nero Wolfe, and plays a role in The Final Deduction.