Species
+

Dendrobium anosmum Lindl.

Honohono

Climate known 3 photographs Orchid
Add one to my plants Sow seed

Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.

Summary

Dendrobium anosmum, commonly known as the unscented dendrobium, is a species of epiphytic orchid with large purple flowers. It is widespread across Southeast Asia from Sri Lanka to New Guinea, including Indochina, Indonesia, the Philippines, etc. Despite its common name and scientific name, D. anosmum usually has a strong fragrance reminiscent of raspberries.

Text from Wikipedia, “Dendrobium anosmum”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

About the genus · Dendrobium

Dendrobium is a genus of mostly epiphytic and lithophytic orchids in the family Orchidaceae. It is a very large genus, containing more than 1,800 species that are found in diverse habitats throughout much of south, east and southeast Asia, including China, Japan, India, the Philippines, Indonesia, Australia, New Guinea, Vietnam and many of the islands of the Pacific. Orchids in this genus have roots that creep over the surface of trees or rocks, rarely having their roots in soil. More on Wikipedia ›

The opening of Wikipedia, “Dendrobium”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Orchidaceae
Described by
Lindl.
Native to
Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Laos +12
Wild records
72 in range· 22 open

At a glance

Warmest month
29°C
May, mean day; nights 24 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
2711mm/yr
12 wet months · peak Oct 288 mm (CHELSA)
Light
28–36DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Grouped as a orchid by the genus Dendrobium, which is reliably one kind of plant (archetype table). Rain rule: no season, 70% of the rain takes 8 months (May to December at the habitat (not shifted)). Habitat rain 2711 mm a year, wettest October at 288 mm, driest February at 154 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 28 to 36 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 21.2 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Also known as Callista anosma (Lindl.) Kuntze; Callista scortechinii (Hook.f.) Kuntze; Dendrobium anosmum var. dearei (Rolfe) Ames & Quisumb.; Dendrobium dayanum B.S.Williams; Dendrobium dayanum Grindon and 13 more.

Cultivation

Grouped as a orchid by the genus Dendrobium, which is reliably one kind of plant (archetype table). The table supplies one figure for this group, a conventional minimum for the cold floor, and no prose.

Its year Rain rule: no season, 70% of the rain takes 8 months (May to December at the habitat (not shifted)).

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads no season: 70% of the year's rain (2015 mm of 2711 mm) takes 8 months, May to December. Mean temperature moves 1.3 °C between the warmest and coldest month. Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere, within 10° of the equator; with no thermal season there there is no season to reverse, so they are not shifted for a collection elsewhere.

Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain Habitat rain 2711 mm a year, wettest October at 288 mm, driest February at 154 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

2711 mm a year at the habitat, 2015 mm of it May to December. Wettest month October at 288 mm, driest February at 154 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 2031 mm to 3913 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the envelope cells. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light Open sky over the habitat: 28 to 36 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 28 to 36 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 25, the highest 90th-percentile month 41).

CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Warmth and air Cold floor 21.2 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is 21.2 °C, the absolute minimum 18.6 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 31.0 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 22.4 °C in January (across the envelope cells 16.7 °C to 25.0 °C), warmest day 29.0 °C in May (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 21.2 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER); the archetype table's minimum for a orchid, 13 °C, is lower and does not raise it.

NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence, and the archetype table's group minimum where that is higher. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 66 to 68% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.

The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from 27 °C in Jan to 29 °C in May; mean night from 22 °C in Jan to 24 °C in May. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest night. 2711 mm of rain a year, most in Oct. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 54 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was 18.6 °C and the 99th-percentile day 31.0 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.15°20°25°30°35°31.0° 99th-percentile day (undated)18.6° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400500mm rainDLI 28–36RH 66–68 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 54 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C27 / 24–2928 / 24–2928 / 25–3029 / 26–3229 / 26–3229 / 25–3129 / 25–3029 / 25–3129 / 25–3128 / 25–3028 / 25–3027 / 24–29
Night °C22 / 17–2523 / 17–2523 / 18–2524 / 19–2624 / 19–2624 / 19–2624 / 19–2524 / 19–2523 / 19–2523 / 18–2523 / 18–2523 / 17–25
Rain mm202 / 20–422154 / 21–327174 / 28–327166 / 48–341251 / 150–340252 / 193–445245 / 172–495244 / 162–497269 / 180–426288 / 193–390248 / 107–393218 / 53–427
DLI28 / 27–3432 / 30–3736 / 31–3936 / 31–4134 / 29–3832 / 28–3532 / 28–3533 / 28–3733 / 29–3731 / 28–3629 / 27–3328 / 25–31
RH %67 / 63–7367 / 62–7267 / 61–7166 / 60–7268 / 62–7367 / 63–7267 / 63–7367 / 62–7468 / 62–7468 / 63–7468 / 62–7268 / 62–73

Each figure is the median across the 54 grid cells holding the 68 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 1803:5818 (-0.175, 110.925). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 18.6 °C, 1st-percentile night 21.2 °C, 99th-percentile day 31.0 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 54 distinct grid cells holding the 68 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1803:5818 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 0.00_110.625, lapse-corrected -38 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 56 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeBangladesh, Sri Lanka, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, Borneo, Jawa, Lesser Sunda Is., Malaya, Maluku, Philippines, Sulawesi, Sumatera, New Guinea
Kew's description“pseudobulbous epiphyte or lithophyte” · “wet tropical”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker7.375, 125.832 · in the densest population, 39 records (54% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 72 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 22 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 2078 km away. 6 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 4 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km and stay on the map but off the climate.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 4° block of the 72 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Dendrobium anosmumDendrobium anosmum

Photographs: Vreni Gem O. Caasi, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIF; Ericson Delloro, CC BY-SA, via GBIF.

Photographs: iNaturalist did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.

Papers naming this species

Works whose title or abstract names Dendrobium anosmum, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Isolation and screening of extracellular enzymatic activity of endophytic fungi isolated from Thai orchids
Kathawut Sopalun, Siriluck Iamtham (2020) · South African Journal of Botany
Breeding Dendrobium Orchids in Hawaii
H. Kamemoto, T.D. Amore, Adelheid R. Kuehnle (1999) · University of Hawaii Press eBooks
In Vitro Propagation of the Dendrobium anosmum Lindl. Collected in Vietnam
Hai Thanh Nguyen, Son Truong Dinh, Thi Thao Ninh, Hue Thi Nong (2022) · Agronomy
Development and Evaluation of Topical Zinc Oxide Nanogels Formulation Using Dendrobium anosmum and Its Effect on Acne Vulgaris
Yu Yang Tan, Ling Shing Wong, Kar Lin Nyam, Kitiyaporn Wittayanarakul (2023) · Molecules
Diversity of Epiphytic Orchids, Hoya, Dischidia and Phorophytes (Host Trees) in Bawean Island Nature Reserve and Wildlife Reserve, East Java, Indonesia
Trimanto Trimanto, Setyawan Agung Danarto (2020) · Journal of Tropical Biodiversity and Biotechnology
Orchids of Papua New Guinea: An introduction
Andreu E Millar (1978) · ANU Open Research (Australian National University)
Genetic variability of Phaius and Dendrobium orchids based on molecular markers
Wachidatul Linda Yuhanna, Sri Hartati, Sugiyarto SUGİYARTO, MARSUSI MARSUSI (2021) · IOP Conference Series Earth and Environmental Science
A distinct lineage of Watermelon mosaic virus naturally infects honohono orchid (Dendrobium anosmum) and passionfruit (Passiflora edulis) in Hawaii
Shizu Watanabe, Rafaela Gomes Ruschel, Glorimar Marrero, D. M. Sether (2016) · New Disease Reports
Soft rot disease caused by Dickeya fangzhongdai in epiphytic orchids in Vietnam
Nguyen Minh, Dang Thi Kim Anh, Tran Xuan Hung, Nong Phuong Nhung (2021) · Canadian Journal of Plant Pathology
MỘT SỐ BIỆN PHÁP KỸ THUẬT TRỒNG VÀ CHĂM SÓC CÂY LAN GIẢ HẠC DI LINH (Dendrobium anosmum DL.) TỪ CÂY CON IN VITRO
Nguyễn Thị Diễm, Nguyễn Thị Oanh, Thanh-Tam Ho, Nguyễn Hữu Thọ (2021) · HUE UNIVERSITY JOURNAL OF SCIENCE NATURAL SCIENCE

Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.

Other Dendrobium 2 in the reference

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
wcvp.distribution answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zam
climate answered
wikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive)
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
commons nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media answered
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 13 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.