According to Averyanov’s ‘A survey of Dendrobium Sw. sect. Formosae (Benth. & Hook.f.) Hook.f. in Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam’ (2016): “This species has a very isolated position in the section with its yellow flowers and dense pubescence of long white trichomes. Recent molecular phylogenetic studies also supported its isolated position in the genus and indicates it probably needs to be removed from section Formosae to section Dendrobium (Xiang et al. 2013; Schuiteman & Adams 2014; Takamiya et al. 2014).”