It has strap-shaped, persistent leaves and blooms mostly in winter and spring, producing short, 2 to 4-flowered racemes.

The flowers are fragrant, waxy, and highly variable in color, ranging from white to pink and purple.

[6] Dendrobium nobile is an epiphytic or lithophytic plant native to southern China (including Tibet), the Himalayas (India, Bangladesh, Assam, Nepal, Bhutan), and Indochina (Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam).

[14] Dendrobium nobile occurs in lowland and mountain forests, often on mossy limestone rocks.

[18] It has become a popular cultivated decorative house plant, because it produces colourful blooms in winter and spring, at a time when little else is in flower.