Dendrobium dichroma Schltr., Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. Beih. 1 (1912) 515; 21 (1923) t. 175, fig. 652.
Type: Schlechter 18763 (holo B, lost).
Rhizome very short, roots elongated, filiform, flexuose, glabrous. Stems crowded, patent, slender, somewhat flexuose, up to 60 cm, many-leaved; unbranched or sparsely branched. Leaf sheaths entirely covering the stem, subverruculose in their apical part. Leaves subpatent, linear to lanceolate-linear, 3-7 by 0.25-0.5 cm, apex acute. Inflorescences racemose, short, densely 10-20-flowered. Floral bracts lanceolate, much shorter than the pedicel and ovary, apex acuminate. Pedicel and ovary 2 cm long, slender, glabrous. Flowers resupinated or not, c. 2 cm long. Dorsal sepal elliptic, 0.9 cm long, apex obtuse or apiculate. Lateral sepals obliquely elliptic, 0.9 cm long, apex obtuse or apiculate; mentum oblongoid, c. 1.1 cm long, obtuse. Petals obliquely oblong, c. 0.8 cm long, apex obtuse. Lip strongly concave, from a narrow base abruptly widening a little to become semioblong in apical part, 1.5 by 0.7 cm, apical margin pectinate-dentate, apex hood-like. Column short, clinandrium 3-lobulate, the lateral lobules rounded, the median tooth-like; column-foot linear, 1.1 cm long, near the apex with a appressed forward projecting acute tooth. Anther subreniform-cucullate, in front emarginate and papillose.
(after Schlechter, 1912).
Colours: Flowers orange-red, the median sepal and the petals yellow, the lateral sepals with a yellow apex.
Habitat: Epiphyte in montane forest. Altitude 2000 m.
Flowering time in the wild: November.
Distribution: New Guinea (endemic).
Distribution in New Guinea: Papua New Guinea (Eastern Highlands Province).
Notes: Probably not distinct from Dendrobium subclausum.
Cultivation: Cool growing epiphyte.