Dendrobium Orchid A large genus of orchids with over 1200 species Native to diverse habitats throughout Asia and the South Pacific The name is from the Greek dendron (meaning tree) and bios (meaning life). The species are either perennially epiphytic, growing on a tree, or occasionally perennially lithophytic, growing over a rock. Orchids generally reproduce via seeds, some can also reproduce asexually via pseudobulbs. All orchid species are protected for the purposes of international commerce under CITES as potentially threatened or endangered in their natural habitat.

CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) is an international agreement between Governments, drafted as a result of a resolution adopted in 1963 at a meeting of members of the World Conservation Union (IUCN). Its aim is to ensure that international trade in specimens of wild animals and plants does not threaten their survival and it accords varying degrees of protection to more than 33,000 species of animals and plants. Orchid plants sold in the U.S. are propagated by growers, and are not wild plants.

Orchids growing on tree bark, showing pseudobulbs. Typical Orchid flowers

A Really Delicious Orchid, The Vanilla Orchid True vanilla comes from the seeds and seed pods of the Vanilla orchid, Vanilla planifolia. Distribution of V. Planifolia