Some of our largest orchids are dendrobiums but this species is a lovely miniature that fits in the palm of your hand. Dendrobium trinervium is native to Thailand and Peninsular Malaya where it grows in warm lowland forest at around 100m altitude. In this habitat it will experience year round warm temperatures and little seasonal variation. It is not strongly deciduous though only seems to flower from nodes along the newer pseudobulbs.

The plant shown first flowered from tiny 2.5cm bulbs, but now the plant is mature the pseudobulbs grow to 5cm and produced a lot more flowers. It is still one of the smallest dendrobiums we grow, and we expect it to make a stunning ball or growths in time.

The species naturally grows a little warmer than we keep our Warm Asia section (Min 18C) so we grow the species high up in the greenhouse (where it is warmest) but shaded throughout the year. We spray it daily and as you can see it produces lots of roots that cling to its bark mount. The species flowers over a long period and the plant has lots of small buds as well as the open flowers.