Dendrobium katherinae A.D.Hawkes, Lloydia 20 (1957) 121 (nom. nov.).
Basionym: Dendrobium pachyanthum Schltr.
Rhizome very short, roots elongated, filiform, flexuose, glabrous. Stems crowded, pendulous, terete, up to 150 cm by 8 mm, densely many-leaved, unbranched. Leaf sheaths entirely covering the stem. Leaves elliptic-ligulate, 13-17 by 2.2-3 cm, apex acute. Inflorescences arising laterally from the stems, peduncle hardly developed, 2-flowered, spathe very short, broadly obtuse. Ovary 0.8 cm long, subsessile, cylindrical, glabrous. Flowers c. 2.5 cm across, fleshy. Sepals towards the apex thickened and incurved, outside verruculose. Dorsal sepal oblong-spathulate, 1.5 cm long, apex obtuse. Lateral sepals obliquely oblong-spathulate, a little widened at the base, 1.5 cm long, apex obtuse; mentum short, obtuse. Petals similar to but a little shorter than the sepals, oblique. Lip 3-lobed in the middle, 0.7 by 0.35 cm, cuneate at the base, inside in basal half with transverse elongated warts, with a linear basal keel extending to the base of the midlobe, on the base of the midlobe with pointed papillae; lateral lobes small, triangular, obtuse; midlobe oblong, margins undulate, apex acuminate. Column short, rather thick, clinandrium 3-lobulate, the lateral lobules truncate, the median tooth-like, hardly longer; column-foot incurved. Anther reniform-cucullate, glabrous.
(after Schlechter, 1912)
Colours: Flowers yellow, inside with red-brown spots, the column-foot with an orange-red spot.
Habitat: Epiphyte in hill forest. Altitude 400 m.
Flowering time in the wild: June.
Distribution: New Guinea (endemic).
Distribution in New Guinea: Papua New Guinea (Morobe Province: Waria River).
Cultivation: Warm growing epiphyte.