Dendrobium rhabdoglossum Schltr., Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 58 (1923) 104.
Type: Ledermann 11459; 12231 (syn B, lost).
Rhizome very short. Stems crowded, patent, slender, cylindrical, fleshy, soon becoming longitudinally grooved, sparsely branched, to 30 cm long, many-leaved. Leaf sheaths entirely covering the stem. Leaves much longer than the sheaths, erect-patent, lanceolate, 4-6 by 0.7-0.9 cm, apex acute, the very tip obliquely setaceous-acuminate. Inflorescences racemose, short. Floral bracts ovate, much shorter than the pedicel and ovary, apex acuminate. Pedicel and ovary 2.3 cm long, subclavate, slender, glabrous. Flowers c. 2.2 cm long. Dorsal sepal oblong, 1 cm long, apex obtuse. Lateral sepals obliquely triangular-ovate, widened at the base, 1 cm long, apex obtuse; mentum conical, 1.2 cm long, obtuse. Petals obliquely elliptic-oblong, cuneate at the base, 0.85 cm long, apex obtuse. Lip obovate-rhombic, narrowing to the base, 1.5 by 0.8 cm, apical part cucullate, slightly surpassing the apex of the column, abruptly hood-like incurved, apex truncate, serrulate-denticulate. Column 0.4 cm long, clinandrium 3-lobulate, the lateral lobules semiquadrangular-triangular, denticulate; column-foot narrow, 1.2 cm long.
(after Schlechter, 1923).
Colours: Sepals and petals orange-red or dark rose-red with paler tips, lip yellow with blood-red or orange-red stripes.
Habitat: Epiphyte in lower montane forest. Altitude 1300-1500 m.
Flowering time in the wild: March, June.
Distribution: New Guinea (endemic).
Distribution in New Guinea: Papua New Guinea (East Sepik Province: Hunstein Mountains, Regenberg).
Cultivation: Intermediate growing epiphyte.