The northeast region of India harbours ∼750–800 species of orchid (Chowdhery 2001). However, this rich diversity, both in the region and in the country as a whole, is under threat for various reasons. These include deforestation, uncontrolled commercial exploitation, illegal export and the practice of slash and burn cultivation that is widespread in northeast India. At present, all the orchids are listed in the International Union of Conservation of Nature and Natural Resouces (IUCN) Red Data Book. The family Orchidaceae is also included in Appendix-II of the Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) (Senthilkumar 2001). Dendrobium hookerianum is an epiphytic orchid included in these lists as a rare and threatened species in northeast India. The orchid has ornamental value and is commercially important due to its bright yellow flower, the pigment from which is used by the textile industry (Chowdhery 1998). There is a clear need to conserve this rare, beautiful and useful species from extinction. We believe that it will be possible to increase its population size by using mass in vitro seed germination to generate large numbers of plants to re-introduce into the wild (Wochok 1981). However, at present, there is no established means of achieving mass in vitro germination and plantlet culture.