Plants & CreaturesGreek → English
Dendrobium
/dɛnˈdroʊbiəm/noun
A large genus of tropical orchids that grow perched on tree trunks and branches rather than in soil.
The Greek roots
δένδρον
déndron
tree
βίος
bíos
life
Literally: “life on a tree”
The story of the word
Olof Swartz named the genus in 1799 for the one habit that matters: these orchids live on trees, taking water from rain and air rather than roots in ground. It is among the largest orchid genera, well over a thousand species running from the Himalayan foothills to New Guinea. δένδρον also gives the dendrite, the branching arm of a nerve cell, and rhododendron, the rose-tree.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Modern Latin → English
- First recorded
- 19th century
Same family
rhododendrondendritebiologyphalaenopsis
In a sentence
The dendrobium hangs in a slatted basket with almost no compost in it.
Dendrobiums need a cool dry rest before they will flower.