Dendrobium xanthogenium Schltr., Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 58 (1923) 106.
Type: Ledermann 12375; 12945 (syn B, lost).
Rhizome very short. Stems crowded, erect to patent-subpendulous, slender, fleshy, soon becoming longitudinally grooved, 40-60 cm long, very densely many-leaved. Leaf sheaths entirely covering the stem. Leaves erect-patent, oblong-lanceolate, 2.8-4.5 by 0.6-1.2 cm, margins nearly rounded, apex obliquely narrowly obtuse. Inflorescences racemose, subsessile, short. Floral bracts elliptic, much shorter than the pedicel and ovary, apex shortly acuminate to apiculate. Pedicel and ovary 3 cm long, slender, glabrous. Flowers c. 3.5 cm long. Dorsal sepal elliptic, 1.4 cm long, apex subacute. Lateral sepals obliquely elliptic, much widened at the base, 1.4 cm long, apex subacute; mentum spur-like, lightly curved, obconical, 2.3 cm long, obtuse. Petals obliquely elliptic-subspathulate, almost as long as the sepals, apex obtuse. Lip oblong, concave, with a ligulate basal part, 2.6 by 0.7 cm, in basal half with the margins adnate to the column-foot, apical part abruptly hood-like incurved, the very apex laciniate-dentate, only slightly extending beyond the apex of the column. Column 0.55 cm long, clinandrium 3-lobulate, the lateral lobules obliquely triangular, obtuse, in the dorsal part denticulate, the median slightly longer, subulate; column-foot narrow, 2.3 cm long.
(after Schlechter, 1923).
Colours: Flower rose-lilac with orange mentum.
Habitat: Epiphyte in lower montane forest. Altitude 1400 to 1600 m.
Flowering time in the wild: July-August.
Distribution: New Guinea (endemic).
Distribution in New Guinea: Papua New Guinea (East Sepik Province).
Notes: Related to Dendrobium nubigenum.
Cultivation: Intermediate growing epiphyte.