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Species library › Dendrobium › Dendrobium tortile
Orchids Partly documented

Dendrobium tortile

Twisted Dendrobium

A deciduous cane Dendrobium of section Dendrobium, named for its twisted, wavy sepals and petals, from Assam and Bangladesh through Myanmar, Thailand and Indochina to Peninsular Malaysia and the Andamans. Two or three fragrant, long-lasting flowers appear from the upper nodes of leafless canes from late winter to early summer. Like its relatives it wants a warm, wet growing season and a drier winter with sharply reduced water.

Dendrobium tortile
Photo: sunoochi from Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
At home, aim for
Day Warm-growingTargets in Plantistry
Night Close to the dayTargets in Plantistry
Humidity Ordinary room humidityBand in Plantistry
Light Bright, filtered lightDLI and PPFD in Plantistry
Expects a seasonal restGrows on trees (epiphyte)

Where it grows wild

Epiphyte on trees in evergreen forest, scrub and bamboo forest, and occasionally on rocks or the ground. Herbarium labels include disturbed evergreen forest along a trail and trees in scrub, suggesting fairly bright, open sites.

GBIF specimens with an elevation lie at 20-200 m in Thailand, while the Internet Orchid Species Photo Encyclopedia gives about 1,220 m; it seems to occupy a wide elevation band.

AssamBangladeshAndaman IslandsMyanmarThailandLaosVietnamMalaya

🔒 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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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 2.0 licence, unmodified.