Dendrobium xanthothece Schltr., Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. Beih. 1 (1912) 630; 21 (1928) t. 212, fig. 800.
Type: Schlechter 19070 (holo B, lost).
Rhizome very short, roots elongated, filiform, flexuose, glabrous. Stems crowded, erect, laterally compressed, unbranched, 30-40 cm by 2.5 mm wide, densely many-leaved. Leaf sheaths 0.25 cm, entirely covering the stem, rugulose near the apex. Leaves erect, linear to linear-ligulate, 3.5-6 by 0.3-0.4 cm, apex obtuse, unequally bilobulate. Inflorescences arising laterally from the stem, 1-flowered, sessile. Floral bract minute. Pedicel and ovary 0.5 cm long, curved. Flower not resupinated, c. 0.7 cm across. Dorsal sepal ovate, 0.65 cm long, apex obtuse. Lateral sepals obliquely ovate, widened at the base, 0.65 cm long, apex obtuse; mentum 0.4 cm long, obtuse. Petals obliquely oblong-ligulate, a little shorter than the sepals, apex obtuse. Lip 3-lobed in apical fourth, 0.6 by 0.4 cm, hypochile elliptic, with a low, very broadly conical, backwards-pointing callus; lateral lobes short, obtuse, slightly incurved; epichile somewhat narrower than the hypochile, transversely oblong, along the median with c. 5-6 transverse folds, broadly obtuse. Column short, clinandrium 3-lobulate, the lateral lobules very short, irregularly denticulate, the median longer, subulate; column-foot ligulate, 0.4 cm long. Anther subreniform-cucullate, glabrous, at the back with a low swelling, in front slightly excised.
(after Schlechter, 1912).
Colours: Flower whitish yellow, lip and column-foot spotted brown, anther brown-red, in front with white margin.
Habitat: Epiphyte in lower montane forest. Altitude 1300 m.
Flowering time in the wild: January.
Distribution: New Guinea (endemic).
Distribution in New Guinea: Papua New Guinea (Madang Province: Finisterre Mountains).
Cultivation: Intermediate growing epiphyte.