I hope that you are enjoying Dendrobium week as much as I am. Today’s species is Dendrobium lindleyi a lovely small growing orchid that gives clouds of large flowers well clear of the stiff leathery leaves.

This plant was deflasked in 2010 and so is 13 years from seed and is still no bigger than my hand on its cork mount. It produces a great display every year.

Dendrobium liondleyi is found over a wide range from Assam through South East Asia and we have seen it growing in Loas near Luang Prabang near the Mekong river at around 700m growing in seasonally dry evergreen forest. The species was most common in the lower branches of big semi-deciduous trees near the river, and close to this Buddhist temple with a Cymbidium growing in its gutter.

Like other members of Dendobium section densiflorum (like yeasterday’s Dendrobium farmeri) we find that the species does best with a warm wet summer in Warm Asia and then a dryish cooler winter, and we find that Dendrobium lindleyi enjoys the roof of our Cool Americas section.