Two Gram-staining-negative, aerobic, non-spore-forming rod-shaped, non-motile bacteria, designated strains R156-2(T) and T58-2 were isolated from the roots of Cymbidium goeringii. The colonies were yellow-pigmented. On the basis of 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity, strains R156-2(T) and T58-2 were shown to be members of the genus Chitinophaga. Strains R156-2(T) and T58-2 showed the greatest level of sequence similarity with Chitinophaga niabensis (96.0-96.3 %). The major menaquinone was MK-7. The main cellular fatty acids were iso-C15 : 0, C16 : 1ω5c and iso-C17 : 0 3-OH. Phenotypic and genotypic analyses indicated that strains R156-2(T) and T58-2 could not be assigned to any recognized species. Therefore, strains R156-2(T) and T58-2 represent a novel species of the genus Chitinophaga, for which the name Chitinophaga cymbidii sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is R156-2(T) ( = ACCC 05363(T) = KCTC 23738(T)). The DNA G+C content of this strain is 51.9 mol%.