Species
+

Dendrobium nobile Lindl.

Noble Dendrobium, shi hu

Climate known 40 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 nobile, also known as the noble dendrobium, is a member of the family Orchidaceae. It is one of the most widespread ornamental members of the orchid family. It is the state flower of the Indian state of Sikkim.

Text from Wikipedia, “Dendrobium nobile”, 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
China South-Central, Hainan, China Southeast +10
Wild records
146 in range· 96 open

At a glance

Warmest month
25°C
Aug, mean day; nights 19 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
2128mm/yr
11 wet months · peak Jul 419 mm (CHELSA)
Light
19–33DLI
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: a summer growing season, May to September in the northern hemisphere (May to September at the habitat, northern). Habitat rain 2128 mm a year, wettest July at 419 mm, driest December at 21 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 19 to 33 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 13 °C (archetype minimum for a orchid, above the 4.0 °C habitat night).
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 nobilis (Lindl.) Kuntze; Dendrobium caerulescens Wall.; Dendrobium caerulescens Wall. ex Lindl.; Dendrobium chlorostylum Gagnep.; Dendrobium coerulescens Wall. and 19 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: a summer growing season, May to September in the northern hemisphere (May to September at the habitat, northern).

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

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the year's rain (1640 mm of 2128 mm) falls in May to September, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 21.7 °C against a yearly mean of 17.4 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: November to March.

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 2128 mm a year, wettest July at 419 mm, driest December at 21 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

2128 mm a year at the habitat, 1640 mm of it May to September. Wettest month July at 419 mm, driest December at 21 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 1122 mm to 3567 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: 19 to 33 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 19 to 33 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 14, the highest 90th-percentile month 39).

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 13 °C (archetype minimum for a orchid, above the 4.0 °C habitat night).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is 4.0 °C, the absolute minimum -0.8 °C, 1 frost night in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 33.7 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 6.2 °C in January (across the envelope cells -2.9 °C to 11.9 °C), warmest day 24.9 °C in August (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 13 °C. The habitat figure, the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER), is 4.0 °C; the archetype table's conventional minimum for a orchid (grouped by the genus Dendrobium, which is reliably one kind of plant) is 13 °C, which is higher, and the floor rule takes the higher.

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: 61 to 71% 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 14 °C in Jan to 25 °C in Aug; mean night from 6 °C in Jan to 19 °C in Jul. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest night. 2128 mm of rain a year, most in Jul. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 115 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was -0.8 °C and the 99th-percentile day 33.7 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.-10°10°20°30°40°frost33.7° 99th-percentile day (undated)-0.8° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter02004006008001000mm rainDLI 19–33RH 61–71 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 115 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 °C14 / 7–2116 / 8–2319 / 11–2722 / 15–2924 / 17–3024 / 19–3025 / 19–3125 / 19–3024 / 18–2922 / 16–2719 / 12–2416 / 9–21
Night °C6 / -3–127 / -2–1410 / 2–1713 / 5–2016 / 8–2218 / 12–2419 / 13–2419 / 12–2418 / 11–2214 / 7–2010 / 3–167 / -1–12
Rain mm28 / 14–6346 / 19–10377 / 34–174146 / 56–277232 / 116–364329 / 159–593419 / 207–850371 / 180–625289 / 128–479130 / 71–24740 / 21–7621 / 13–46
DLI21 / 14–2724 / 16–3230 / 21–3833 / 26–3932 / 28–3628 / 24–3325 / 21–3327 / 23–3126 / 23–2925 / 21–2822 / 18–2619 / 15–25
RH %62 / 56–7062 / 55–7062 / 55–6863 / 57–6865 / 61–7069 / 63–7471 / 65–7670 / 65–7568 / 64–7365 / 62–6963 / 59–6761 / 58–67

Each figure is the median across the 115 grid cells holding the 140 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 1254:5423 (27.275, 91.175). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -0.8 °C, 1st-percentile night 4.0 °C, 99th-percentile day 33.7 °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 115 distinct grid cells holding the 140 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1254:5423 (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 27.50_91.250, lapse-corrected -1342 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 1077 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.
NativeChina South-Central, Hainan, China Southeast, Tibet, Assam, Bangladesh, East Himalaya, India, Nepal, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam· introduced: Hawaii
Kew's description“pseudobulbous epiphyte or lithophyte” · “subtropical”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker27.189, 90.533 · in the densest population, 59 records (40% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 146 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 96 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 12 km away. 62 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 6 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 of the 146 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Dendrobium nobileDendrobium nobileDendrobium nobileDendrobium nobileDendrobium nobileDendrobium nobileDendrobium nobileDendrobium nobile

Photographs: (c) Morten Ross, some rights reserved (CC BY) (4); (c) Tristan Jobin, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Thibaud Aronson, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA); (c) chintan sheth, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) desertnaturalist, some rights reserved (CC BY).

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 nobile, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Purification, composition analysis and antioxidant activity of the polysaccharides from Dendrobium nobile Lindl.
Aoxue Luo, Xing‐Jin He, Song‐Dong Zhou, Yijun Fan (2009) · Carbohydrate Polymers
Bioactive Bibenzyl Derivatives and Fluorenones from Dendrobium nobile
Xue Zhang, Jie‐Kun Xu, Jue Wang, Naili Wang (2006) · Journal of Natural Products
Genetic stability and phytochemical analysis of the in vitro regenerated plants of Dendrobium nobile Lindl., an endangered medicinal orchid
Paromik Bhattacharyya, Suman Kumaria, Reemavareen Diengdoh, Pramod Tandon (2014) · Meta Gene
In vitro antioxidant activities of a water-soluble polysaccharide derived from Dendrobium nobile Lindl. extracts
Aoxue Luo, Xing‐Jin He, Song‐Dong Zhou, Yijun Fan (2009) · International Journal of Biological Macromolecules
In VitroandIn VivoAntitumoral Phenanthrenes from the Aerial Parts ofDendrobium nobile
You Jin Lee, Jong Moon Park, Nam Beak, Shin Kim (1995) · Planta Medica
Diverse non-mycorrhizal fungal endophytes inhabiting an epiphytic, medicinal orchid (Dendrobium nobile): estimation and characterization
Zhilin Yuan, Yicun Chen, Yun Yang (2008) · World Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
Anti-aging properties of Dendrobium nobile Lindl.: From molecular mechanisms to potential treatments
Xuqiang Nie, Yu Chen, Wei Li, Yanliu Lu (2020) · Journal of Ethnopharmacology
Three New Sesquiterpene Glycosides from Dendrobium nobile with Immunomodulatory Activity
Weimin Zhao, Qinghua Ye, Xiaojian Tan, Hualiang Jiang (2001) · Journal of Natural Products
Comparison of antitumor activities of different polysaccharide fractions from the stems of Dendrobium nobile Lindl
Junhui Wang, Jian‐Ping Luo, Xue‐Qiang Zha, Bao-Jun Feng (2009) · Carbohydrate Polymers
The uses and misuses of orchids in medicine
Christopher J. Bulpitt (2005) · QJM

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 42 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.