Dendrobium meliodorum Schltr., Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. Beih. 1 (1912) 576.
Type: Schlechter 17888 (holo B, lost; iso AD, AMES, BO, E, G, K, L 2x).
Rhizome very short, roots elongated, filiform, flexuose, glabrous. Stems crowded, erect to patent, slender, terete, up to 120 cm by 2 mm, many-leaved, straight, unbranched. Leaf sheaths entirely covering the stem. Leaves erect-patent, narrowly linear, 10-14 by 0.3-0.4 cm, apex sharply obliquely acute. Inflorescences arising laterally from the stem, short; peduncle longer than the spathe, 2-flowered; spathe laterally compressed, oblong, obtuse. Floral bracts small, hyaline. Pedicel and ovary 0.8 cm long, slender, glabrous. Flowers c. 9 cm across. Dorsal sepal linear-lanceolate, 4.5 cm long, apex filiform-elongated. Lateral sepals obliquely linear-lanceolate, lobe-like widened at the base, 4.5 cm long, apex filiform-elongated; mentum conico-oblongoid, 0.35 cm long, obtuse. Petals obliquely linear, a little shorter than the sepals, apex filiform-elongated. Lip 3-lobed below the middle, 0.95 cm long, cuneate at the base, with a dentate median keel extending from the base to the base of the midlobe, in the basal half with scattered papillae, on the midlobe with subulate papillae; lateral lobes falcate-lanceolate, interior margins dentate, apex acute; midlobe lanceolate, 0.6 cm long, margins lacerate fimbriate, apex acuminate. Column short, clinandrium 3-lobulate, the lateral lobules rounded, serrulate, the median minute, tooth-like; column-foot 0.35 cm long, linear, concave.
(after Schlechter, 1912).
Colours: Flowers white, outside slightly flushed reddish, midlobe of the lip yellowish.
Habitat: Epiphyte in hill forest. Altitude 600 m.
Flowering time in the wild: June.
Distribution: New Guinea (endemic).
Distribution in New Guinea: Papua New Guinea (Madang Province: Kani Mountains).
Map: MELIOMAP.JPG [Dendrobium meliodorum Schltr., distribution map.]
Cultivation: Intermediate growing epiphyte.