Based on the literatures of Chinese journal full-text database in China national knowledge infrastructure during 1954-2010

the annual distribution

periodicals distribution

citation frequency

subjects distribution

authors and research institutes distribution of the literatures about Dendrobium were analyzed statistically by the method of bibliometrics.The results indicate that the course of Dendrobium study in China can be divided into 5 stages—starting stage（including 2 stages）

standing stage

stable stage and rapid upstroke stage.Dispersion and concentration coexisted in the journal distribution

the core journal research groups have been already formed and take the following three journals as representation—The Chinese Medicine Magazine of China

Chinese Traditional and Herbal Drugs and Shaanxi Journal of Traditional Chinese Medicine.The research subjects have a wide array of sources

including clinic

pharmacology

tissue culture

seedling propagation

component analysis and so on.The research institutes and teams have been already formed.Dendrobium officinale

Dendrobium nobile and Dendrobium huoshanense were the main objects of those studies.The study of Dendrobium has showed marked achievement

but the growing industry developed slowly and the supply and demand imbalance was outstanding.It indicates that seedling propagation

artificial planting

product development

chemistry and pharmacology study will be the hot research topics and the number of research documents about them will remain rising in the future.