Dendrobium laceratum Schltr., Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. Beih. 1 (1912) 577; 21 (1923) t. 192, fig. 721.
Type: Schlechter 19876 (holo B, lost).
Rhizome very short, roots elongated, filiform, flexuose, glabrous. Stems crowded, erect to almost patent, slender, terete, 40-50 cm long, many-leaved, unbranched. Leaf sheaths entirely covering the stem, microscopically rugulose. Leaves erect-patent, narrowly linear, 7-10 by 0.35-0.45 cm, apex acute. Inflorescences laterally from the stem, short; peduncle very short, 2-flowered, spathe laterally compressed, obtuse. Floral bracts small, hyaline. Pedicel and ovary 0.7 cm long, slender, glabrous. Flowers c. 5 cm across. Dorsal sepal narrowly lanceolate, 2.5 cm long, apex filiform-elongated. Lateral sepals obliquely narrowly lanceolate, at the base lobe-like widened, 2.5 cm long, apex filiform-elongated; mentum oblongoid, 0.45 cm long, obtuse. Petals obliquely linear, a little shorter than the sepals, apex filiform-elongated. Lip 3-lobed near the middle, 0.9 cm long, oblong-cuneate at the base, with a smooth median keel extending from the base to the base of the midlobe, on the midlobe along the median densely set with recurved subulate papillae; lateral lobes oblong-lanceolate, interior margins subdentate, apex subacute; midlobe oblong, twice as long as the lateral lobes, margins unequally lacerate, apex shortly acuminate. Column short, clinandrium 3-lobulate, the lateral lobules rounded, subentire, the median tooth-like; column-foot 0.45 cm long, concave. Anther quadrate-cucullate, glabrous, in front truncate.
(after Schlechter, 1912).
Colours: Flower yellowish white, the column-foot at the tip orange-yellow.
Habitat: Epiphyte in montane forest. Altitude 1200 to 2600 m.
Flowering time in the wild: June, August, October.
Distribution: New Guinea, Bismarck Archipelago.
Distribution in New Guinea: Papua New Guinea (Western Highlands, Morobe, and New Ireland Provinces).
Map: LACERMAP.JPG [Dendrobium laceratum Schltr., distribution map.]
Cultivation: Intermediate growing epiphyte.