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Dendrobium

(Genus)

Overview

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Tufted epiphytic herbs. Stems terete, nodose, fleshy or not, erect or pendulous, often thickened and forming short pseudobulb, sometimes partly dilated into several pseudobulbs, mostly surrounded by tight, persistent sheaths. Leaves coriaceous or subcoriaceous, entire, flat or rarely subterete and laterally flattened, often articulate with sheaths. Inflorescence terminal or lateral, from nodes of stem, racemose or flower solitary, rarely cymose; peduncle obscure or shorter than pedicel; bracts minute. Flowers resupinate; sepals subequal, dorsal one free, lateral ones often oblique at base and adnate to foot of column and forming spur-like or saccate mentum; petals more or less similar to dorsal sepal; lip various, attached to and usually incumbent on foot of column, contracted or clawed at base, often 3-lobed; lateral lobes erect, embracing column; column short, with prominent foot; anther terminal, incumbent, 2celled; pollinia 4, ovoid or oblong, waxy, connate laterally in pairs in each cell, without caudicle or viscidium; rostellum usually hooked below. Capsules ovoid to oblong.

About 1,000 species, from Japan, Korea and China, through India, Malaysia and Indonesia to Papua New Guinea and Australia; 12 species in Taiwan.[1]

Photos

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Taxonomy

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The Genus Dendrobium is further organized into finer groupings including:

Footnotes

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  1. "Dendrobium". in Digital Flora of Tawian . Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org.

Sources

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Last Revised: January 24, 2010
2010/01/24 07:39:16