Dendrobium schweinfurthianum A.D.Hawkes & A.H.Heller, Lloydia 20 (1957) 123 (nom. nov.).
Basionym: Dendrobium leopardinum Schltr.
Rhizome very short, roots elongated, filiform, flexuose, glabrous. Stems crowded, erect to subpatent, slender, slightly laterally compressed, 2.5-3 mm wide, many-leaved, not branching. Leaf sheaths entirely covering the stem, minutely and sparsely verruculose. Leaves erect-patent, linear, 9-13 by 0.4-0.7 cm, apex obliquely acute. Inflorescences lateral from the stem, short; peduncle 1.5 cm long, 2-flowered, outer spathe very short, laterally compressed, semiorbicular, inner spathe much longer, oblong, obtuse. Floral bracts caducous. Pedicel and ovary 1 cm long, slender, glabrous. Flowers c. 8 cm across. Dorsal sepal narrowly lanceolate, 4.3 cm long, apex elongated-filiform. Lateral sepals obliquely narrowly lanceolate, widened at the base, 4.3 cm long, apex elongated-filiform; mentum broadly conical, 0.4 cm long, obtuse. Petals obliquely linear-lanceolate, a little shorter than the sepals, apex elongated-filiform. Lip 3-lobed below the middle, 1.3 by 0.8 cm, oblong-cuneate at the base, with a linear keel slightly widening towards the apex and extending from the base to the base of the midlobe, in the centre with a cushion-like patch of recurved flexuose hairs; lateral lobes oblong-falcate, obtuse; midlobe three times as long as the lateral lobes, elliptic, margins shortly pectinate-fimbriate, apex long-apiculate. Column thick, glabrous, clinandrium 3-lobulate, the lateral lobules subquadrate, truncate, the median small, tooth-like; column-foot concave, 0.4 cm long. Anther cucullate, truncate in front, glabrous.
(after Schlechter, 1912).
Colours: Sepals and petals yellow with dark brown spots; lip white, the midlobe and the tips of the lateral lobes speckled red along the margins.
Habitat: Epiphyte in lower montane forest. Altitude 1000-1400 m.
Flowering time in the wild: January, July, October.
Distribution: New Guinea (endemic).
Distribution in New Guinea: Papua New Guinea (Madang and Morobe Provinces).
Map: SCHWEMAP.JPG [Dendrobium schweinfurthianum A.D.Hawkes & A.H.Heller, distribution map.]
Cultivation: Intermediate growing epiphyte.