Dendrobium oxychilum Schltr., Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. Beih. 1 (1912) 636; 21 (1928) t. 214, fig. 808.
Type: Schlechter 17475; 19921 (B, lost).
Rhizome elongated, rooting, stem-like, roots elongated, filiform, flexuose, glabrous. Stems decumbent to patent, slender, terete, unbranched, to 30 cm by 1-1.3 mm, many-leaved. Leaf sheaths 0.1-0.13 cm wide, entirely covering the stem, rugulose, lined with prominent veins. Leaves erect-patent, lanceolate-ligulate, 1.2-2.3 by 0.3-0.4 cm, apex acute, carnose, keeled below, shiny above. Inflorescences arising laterally from the stem, 1-flowered, sessile. Floral bract minute. Pedicel and ovary 0.35 cm long, slender, glabrous. Flower not resupinated, c. 0.8 cm long. Dorsal sepal ovate, 0.45 cm long, apex acuminate. Lateral sepals obliquely lanceolate, sublobate-widened at the base, 0.45 cm long, front margins coherent, apex acuminate; mentum oblongoid, 0.3 cm long, obtuse. Petals obliquely lanceolate-ligulate, almost as long as the sepals, apex acute. Lip broadly rhombic, 0.6 by 0.3 cm, at the base almost clawed, cuneate, along the median with two lamellae which are widened in the centre and parallel and decurrent to the apex; margins in upper half subdenticulate, apex long-acuminate. Column short, clinandrium 3-lobulate, the lateral lobules rounded, the median a little longer, triangular; column-foot oblong, concave, 0.3 cm long.
(after Schlechter, 1912).
Colours: Flower white with red markings on the lip.
Habitat: Epiphyte in hill forest. Altitude 350-450 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.