Dendrobium buffumii A.D.Hawkes, Lloydia 20 (1957) 119 (nom. nov.).
Basionym: Dendrobium roseoflavidum Schltr.
Rhizome very short. Stems crowded, erect to patent, slender, unbranched, 35-50 cm long, many-leaved. Leaf sheaths entirely covering the stem. Leaves much longer than the sheaths, erect-patent, narrowly linear, 9-12 by 0.3-0.5 cm, apex acute. Inflorescences racemose, subsessile, short, few-flowered. Floral bracts ovate, much shorter than the pedicel and ovary, apex acuminate. Pedicel and ovary 1.8 cm long, slender, glabrous. Flowers c. 2 cm long. Dorsal sepal ovate, 0.6 cm long, apex obtuse. Lateral sepals obliquely ovate, much widened at the base, 0.6 cm long, apex obtuse; mentum cylindrical-conical, 1.5 cm long, obtuse. Petals obliquely oblong-elliptic, 0.5 cm long, margins minutely ciliolate, apex obtuse. Lip narrowly obovate-oblong, concave, in basal part ligulate, 1.6 by 0.7 cm (when flattened), at the apex hood-like cucullate with serrate-dentate margins, shorter than the column. Column 0.45 cm long, clinandrium 3-lobulate, the lateral lobules obliquely rhombic, on the dorsal side subdentate, the median shorter, linear-subulate; column-foot narrow, 1.5 cm long.
(after Schlechter, 1912).
Colours: Flower cherry-purple with yellowish tips.
Habitat: Epiphyte in lowland forest.
Flowering time in the wild: November.
Distribution: New Guinea (endemic).
Distribution in New Guinea: Papua New Guinea (Sepik River).
Cultivation: Warm growing epiphyte.