A singular orchid in a huge group

To give you a good idea of the vast diversity in the family Orchidaceae, there are well over 1,000 orchids in the genus Dendrobium alone. Dendrobium macrophyllum was one of the first orchids to be described and illustrated—in John Lindley’s Sertum Orchidaceum in 1838. Like many plants in the genus, it has a long, skinny pseudobulb that looks like cane.