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Blotched Cane Orchid

Dendrobium gracilicaule, Orchidaceae

Sources last read 14 September 2026.

Not yet rated How forgiving it is has not been judged here yet.

Also called Leopard Orchid, Tiger Orchid and Yellow Cane Orchid.

Blotched Cane Orchid (Dendrobium gracilicaule), the whole plant.
KENPEI, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Toxicity is partly unassessed

  • Listed as non-toxic to cats by ASPCA.
  • Listed as non-toxic to dogs by ASPCA.
  • Not assessed for people. NC State Extension publishes no harm statement for this plant. That is not a finding of safety: none of the sources read for this site gives an answer either way. Treat it as unknown.

What the sources say about its care

Light
Dappled Sunlight, Partial Shade
NC State Extension · read 13 September 2026
Water
Good Drainage, Moist
NC State Extension · read 13 September 2026
Humidity

No source read publishes a humidity figure for any plant on this site. What follows is general guidance for foliage plants.

ASHRAE recommends indoor relative humidity between 30% and 60% 30–60%
Penn State Extension · read 13 September 2026
Soil
High Organic Matter
NC State Extension · read 13 September 2026
Toxic to cats
Non-toxic
ASPCA · read 13 September 2026
Toxic to dogs
Non-toxic
ASPCA · read 13 September 2026
Harmful to people
No record of poisoning in people is listed for this plant; that absence is not evidence it is safe.
NC State Extension · read 13 September 2026

Routine care

Watering
Give it bright light (for example a south-facing window), temperatures from intermediate to warm, and frequent water while it is growing. Water much less while it is dormant.
NC State Extension · read 13 September 2026
Pests and diseases
Can be troubled by mealybugs.
NC State Extension · read 13 September 2026

Move something and watch

Loading the simulator. It needs JavaScript; the care table above does not.

Flowers of Blotched Cane Orchid (Dendrobium gracilicaule).
FlowersGeoff Derrin, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

About the plant

Dendrobium gracilicaule, commonly known as blotched cane orchid or yellow cane orchid, is an epiphytic or lithophytic orchid in the family Orchidaceae. It has cylindrical pseudobulbs, between three and seven thin leaves and up to thirty often drooping, cream-coloured to yellow or greenish flowers, sometimes with reddish brown blotches on the back. There are two varieties, one occurring in Queensland and New South Wales in Australia and the other on some Pacific Islands, including Lord Howe Island.

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0 · read 13 September 2026

Native range
S. Queensland to New South Wales and SW. Pacific
World Checklist of Vascular Plants, June 2026 release, CC BY.
Kew WCVP · read 13 September 2026
Australia, Norfolk Is., Fiji, Vanuatu, New Caledonia
NC State Extension · read 13 September 2026
Climate
seasonally dry tropical
World Checklist of Vascular Plants, June 2026 release, CC BY.
Kew WCVP · read 13 September 2026
Growth form
pseudobulbous epiphyte or lithophyte
World Checklist of Vascular Plants, June 2026 release, CC BY.
Kew WCVP · read 13 September 2026
Epiphyte, Herbaceous Perennial
NC State Extension · read 13 September 2026
Flowering
Flowers cream/tan, gold/yellow, green; blooms in fall, summer
NC State Extension · read 13 September 2026

Other Dendrobium

More of the Orchidaceae family

Plants with similar care

Sources

What this does not cover

The figures above are what published sources say, not measurements of the plant in your room. They say nothing about your pot size, your water, the season, or how far from the glass the plant stands, and those decide more than any figure here does.

Humidity has no species figure because no source read for this site publishes one, and the only temperature published for this plant is a cold floor. The simulator fills those gaps with general figures for its kind of plant, marked as general and listed on how we read sources. Where a toxicity row says the plant was not assessed, that is the absence of a finding and not a finding of safety.

If something is already wrong, the diagnosis tool asks about the soil, the window and the watering, which is where the answer usually is.