Dendrobium gracilicaule

Blotched cane orchid

A slender cane-type Dendrobium from the subtropical and warm-temperate rainforests of eastern Australia, with a separate variety (var. howeanum) on Lord Howe, Norfolk and the Kermadec Islands, New Caledonia, Fiji and Vanuatu. It grows on rainforest trees and sometimes rocks, and produces sprays of small cream to greenish-yellow flowers, often blotched red-brown outside, in late winter. It is an easy, cool-to-intermediate grower that likes bright shade, plenty of summer water and a cool, drier winter.

At home, aim for

Day Cool-growingTargets in Plantistry

Night Close to the dayTargets in Plantistry

Humidity Ordinary room humidityBand in Plantistry

Light Dappled lightDLI and PPFD in Plantistry

Expects a seasonal restGrows on trees (epiphyte)

Where it grows wild

An epiphyte on rainforest trees, occasionally a lithophyte on rocks, in humid subtropical and warm-temperate rainforest and moist gullies. Plants usually grow on trunks and larger branches in the mid-canopy, in bright shade with moving air.

GBIF records run from 26 to 1200 m, with a median of 730 m, so many Australian populations grow on the escarpment and plateau rainforests of northern New South Wales and south-east Queensland.

Australia (New South Wales, Queensland)Lord Howe IslandNorfolk IslandKermadec IslandsNew CaledoniaFijiVanuatu

🔒 Growing it like that

The wild conditions above, turned into targets for a shelf, a tent or a greenhouse. The full profile has:

✓ Day and night temperature targets, and the limits it tolerates

✓ Humidity band, and how to hold it

✓ Light as DLI and PPFD for a grow light

✓ Wet and dry seasons, and whether to rest it

✓ Substrate and airflow

✓ A step-by-step setup to grow it like the wild

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More Dendrobium

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Profiles are drafts built from measured range and climate and from published sources; each section carries its own confidence in the app. Photo from Wikimedia Commons, used under its CC BY-SA 3.0 licence, unmodified.