Dendrobium nobile, commonly known as the noble dendrobium, is a member of the family Orchidaceae. Dendrobium nobile is one of the most widespread ornamental members of the orchid family. It is the state flower of Sikkim.

Description

Dendrobium nobile is a sympodial orchid that forms pseudobulbs. When the mother plant's life cycle ends, it produces offsets, continuing the plant's life. The new plant then repeats this cycle. Its inflorescence is erect, with blooms forming along the length of the flowering stem. It has strap-shaped, persistent leaves and blooms mostly in winter and spring, producing short, 2 to 4-flowered racemes. The flowers are fragrant, waxy, and highly variable in color, ranging from white to pink and purple. The many different cultivated varieties produce blooms of different sizes and colors.

Distribution

Dendrobium nobile is an epiphytic or lithophytic plant native to southern China (including Tibet), the Himalayas (India, Bangladesh, Assam, Nepal, Bhutan), and Indochina (Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam). The species is also reportedly naturalized in Hawaii. Dendrobium nobile occurs in lowland and mountain forests, often on mossy limestone rocks.

Pharmacology

Extract of the stems of Dendrobium nobile yielded 17 phenanthrenes (including 3,4,8-trimethoxyphenanthrene-2,5-diol, 2,8-dihydroxy-3,4,7-trimethoxyphenanthrene, 3-hydroxy-2,4,7-trimethoxy-9,10-dihydrophenanthrene, 2,8-dihydroxy-3,4,7-trimethoxy-9,10-dihydrophenanthrene, 2-hydroxy-4,7-dimethoxy-9,10-dihydrophenanthrene, 2,2'-dihydroxy-3,3',4,4',7,7'-hexamethoxy-9,9',10,10'-tetrahydro-1,1'-biphenanthrene and 2,3,5-trihydroxy-4,9-dimethoxyphenanthrene). There have been many studies on the complex chemistry of the plant.

Usage

It is also one of the 50 fundamental herbs used in traditional Chinese medicine, known as shí hú or shí hú lán. Dendrobium nobile has been added to the EU novel foods catalogue as it is deemed unsafe for human consumption within food supplements without a safety assessment.

Cultivation

It has become a popular cultivated decorative house plant, because it produces colourful blooms in winter and spring, at a time when little else is in flower. It is a tender plant that only survives winters in USDA hardiness zones 11 and above. Examples of the species are grown in Kew Gardens Tropical Nursery in London and seeds are stored in the Millennium Seed Bank there.