Dendrobium extraaxillare Schltr., Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. Beih. 1 (1912) 606; 21 (1928) t. 204, fig. 767.
Type: Schlechter 16491 (holo B, lost; iso AMES, E, G, K, NY, S).
Rhizome very short, roots elongated, filiform, flexuose, glabrous. Stems crowded, erect-patent, unbranched, terete, 80-90 cm by 6-7 mm, densely many-leaved. Leaf sheaths 0.6-0.7 cm wide, entirely covering the stem, with tiny black dots. Leaves patent, elliptic, 10-13 by 3.5-4 cm, apex obliquely bilobulate. Inflorescences arising laterally from the stem above the leaf axils, short; peduncle short; 2-flowered; spathe laterally compressed, oblong, obtuse. Pedicel and ovary 1.5 cm long, glabrous. Flowers c. 3 cm across. Dorsal sepal elliptic-ligulate, 1.8 cm long, apex subacute. Lateral sepals obliquely elliptic-ligulate, a little widened at the base, 1.8 cm long, apex subacute; mentum short, obtuse. Petals obliquely elliptic, a little shorter but broader than the sepals, apex subacute. Lip 3-lobed below the middle, 1.5 cm long, 0.55 cm wide between the lateral lobes, 0.65 cm wide across the midlobe, semioblong at the base, with an irregularly rough-surfaced basal keel extending to beyond the middle; lateral lobes in front truncate, with somewhat irregular margins; midlobe suborbicular-elliptic, the margins near the base on either side with a short tooth, apex subacute. Column short, clinandrium 3-lobulate, the lateral lobules with a few small teeth, subacute, the median triangular, incurved; column-foot incurved. Anther helmet-shaped, rounded, in front subretuse, glabrous.
(after Schlechter, 1912).
Colours: Flower outside whitish, inside densely mottled with red-brown, lip with a white midlobe, column white.
Habitat: Epiphyte in lowland forest. Altitude 300 m.
Flowering time in the wild: September.
Distribution: New Guinea (endemic).
Distribution in New Guinea: Papua New Guinea (Madang Province).
Map: EXTRAMAP.JPG [Dendrobium extraaxillare Schltr., distribution map.]
Cultivation: Warm growing epiphyte.