Dendrobium polyphyllum Schltr., Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 58 (1923) 116.
Type: Ledermann 11144 (holo B, lost).
Rhizome very short. Stems crowded, patent, terete, curved, unbranched, to 40 cm long, densely many-leaved. Leaf sheaths entirely covering the stem, verruculose. Leaves patent, lanceolate-ligulate (size not recorded), apex obtuse, the very tip strongly unequally obtusely bilobulate. Inflorescences arising laterally from the stem, subsessile, 2-flowered, spathe laterally compressed. Floral bracts deltoid-lanceolate, much shorter than the ovary. Pedicel and ovary 2 cm long, glabrous, pedicel slender. Flowers c. 7 cm across. Dorsal sepal lanceolate, 4 cm long, apex elongated-acuminate. Lateral sepals obliquely lanceolate, widened at the base, 4 cm long, apex elongated-acuminate; mentum 0.5 cm long, obtuse. Petals narrowly obliquely lanceolate, 3 cm long, apex elongated-acuminate. Lip 3-lobed above the middle, 1.6 by 0.5 cm, in basal half covered with clavate hairs, with a basal keel extending to the base of the midlobe, the midlobe inside very densely covered with clavate appendages; lateral lobes short, obtuse; midlobe narrowly lanceolate, margins deeply crenate-incised, apex acuminate. Column 0.5 cm long, clinandrium 3-lobulate, the lateral lobules obliquely semioblong-triangular, obtuse, the median shorter; column-foot narrow, lightly incurved, 0.5 cm long.
(after Schlechter, 1923).
Colours: Flower brown-red.
Habitat: Epiphyte in lower montane forest. Altitude 1300 m.
Flowering time in the wild: February.
Distribution: New Guinea (endemic).
Distribution in New Guinea: Papua New Guinea (East Sepik Province: Hunstein Mountains).
Cultivation: Intermediate growing epiphyte.