Dendrobium cyrtolobum Schltr., Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. Beih. 1 (1912) 554; 21 (1923) t. 186, fig. 699.
Type: Schlechter 19409 (holo B, lost).
Rhizome very short, roots elongated, filiform, flexuose, densely verruculose, rough. Stems crowded, erect, slender, up to 60 cm by 5 mm, many-leaved, except in the basal, not branched. Leaf sheaths entirely covering the stem. Leaves erect-patent, oblong, 6-9 by 2-2.8 cm, apex obtuse, unequally bilobulate. Inflorescences racemose, erect-patent, 9 cm long, laxely 3-7-flowered. Floral bracts deltoid, minute, much shorter than the pedicel and ovary, apex apiculate. Pedicel and ovary 1.5 cm long, slender, glabrous. Flowers resupinated, c. 1 cm across. Dorsal sepal broadly ovate, 0.7 cm long, apex apiculate. Lateral sepals obliquely broadly ovate, widened at the base, 0.7 cm long, apex apiculate; mentum obliquely oblongoid, 0.5 cm long, obtuse. Petals obliquely oblong, subfalcate, at the base shortly decurrent on the column-foot, 0.4 cm long, margins subdenticulate, apex apiculate. Lip 3-lobed in the middle, 0.8 by 0.9 cm, shortly clawed at the base, with two keels that merge into a short, spur-like, free, acute appendage towards the base, the keels in front decurrent on the base of the midlobe, the midlobe in the centre with a triangular subacute lamella, lateral lobes falcate-ligulate, obtuse; midlobe shorter than the lateral lobes, reniform, apiculate. Column short, clinandrium serrulate, 3-lobulate; column-foot 0.5 cm long, pubescent, apex hook-like incurved. Anther subreniform-cucullate, in front emarginate.
(after Schlechter, 1912).
Colours: Flower greenish white with red-dotted sepals.
Habitat: Epiphyte in hill forest. Altitude 800 m.
Flowering time in the wild: May.
Distribution: New Guinea (endemic).
Distribution in New Guinea: Papua New Guinea (Morobe Province: Waria area).
Map: CYRLOMAP.JPG [Dendrobium cyrtolobum Schltr., distribution map.]
Notes: Closely related to Dendrobium appendiculoides.
Cultivation: Intermediate growing epiphyte.