1861 Epidendrum dendrobii is a terrestrial species of reed-stemmed Epidendrum of the Orchidaceae which grows on steep slopes in tropical montane cloud forests of Cochabamba, Bolivia and Venezuela at altitudes near 2.6 km.

Epidendrum dendrobii is a terrestrial, sympodial orchid with tall (~1.2 m.[1]) slender stems without any swelling, covered with foliaceous sheaths, most tipped with long, acute, slightly keeled, distichous leaves.

[2] The inflorescences are short (1.5 cm) lateral racemes, or sometimes (Reichenbach, 1861) panicles, carrying six to eight waxy-textured flowers arising between spathaceous bracts.

According to Kew[3] (In July, 2009), E. dendrobii and E. pileatum (the type species of the subgenus E. subg.

Both Reichenbach, 1861 and Dodson & Vásquez, 1989, distinguish between E. dendrobii, with smaller yellowish flowers, and E. pileatum, with larger (> 1 cm) greenish flowers with each floral segment rolled backwards from the long axis (pileate).