Common Name: The Purple Dendrobium
Scented: no
Light Requirements: partial shade
Temperature Requirements: hot to cool
Blooms: winter, spring, summer, autumn
Flower Size: 1.3cm to 2cm
Synonyms: Callista purpurea (Roxb.) Kuntze 1891; Callista reinwardtii (Lindl.) Kuntze 1891; Dendrobium reinwardtii Lindl. 1859l Dendrobium praeustum Kraenzl 1910; Dendrobium purpureum subsp. candidulum (Rchb.f.) Dauncey & P.J.Cribb 1993; Dendrobium purpureum var. album Sander 1926; Dendrobium purpureum var. candidulum Rchb.f. 1887; Dendrobium purpureum var. moseleyi Hemsl. 1884; Dendrobium purpureum var steffensianum Schltr. 1911; Dendrobium reinwardtii Lindl. 1859; Dendrobium scabripes Kraenzl. 1910; Dendrobium talaudense J.J.Sm. 1930; Dendrobium viridiroseum Rchb.f 1855; Pedilonum purpureum [Roxb.] Breiger 1981; Pedilonum reinwardtii [Lindl.] Rauschert 1983; Pedilonum talaudense (J.J.Sm.) Rauschert 1983
Found in the Malay Archipelago, Papua New Guinea, the Caroline Islands, Fiji and Vanuatu as a small to large sized, hot to cool growing epiphyte from coastal lowlands to montane forests at elevations of sealevel to 1150 metres with clustered, cylindrical to spindle-shaped, erect, curved or pendulous, grooved with age, slightly swollen basally, yellow green to purple stems that have silvery sheaths carrying several, apical, lanceolate, dark green, deciduous leaves that alternate along the stem in 2 rows and blooms at most any time of the year with spring as the main time with a 2.5cm long, several to many flowered inflorescence with the semi-closed flowers held in a cluster arising on leafy and leafless stems. This species is best mounted on treefern to accommodate the pendulous growth habit as long as it is kept wet through the summer and needs a slight reduction of water and fertilizer through the winter months.