Dendrobium pruinosum Teijsm. & Binn., Natuurk. Tijdschr. Ned.-Indië 24 (1862) 314.
Type: Bogor cult. (Teijsmann) s.n. (Moluccas) (holo BO?).
Rhizome very short, roots elongated, filiform, flexuose, glabrous. Stems crowded, erect, somewhat laterally compressed, c. 50 cm by 4 mm, many-leaved. Leaf sheaths entirely covering the stem. Leaves erect-patent, elliptic, 5-9 by 1.7-2.8 cm, apex unequally bilobulate. Inflorescences arising laterally from the stem, peduncle hardly longer than the spathe, 2-flowered; spathe very short, obtuse. Pedicel and ovary 1.5 cm long, glabrous. Flowers c. 5 cm wide. Dorsal sepal ligulate, 2.6 cm long, glabrous, apex apiculate. Lateral sepals obliquely ligulate, a little widened at the base, 2.6 cm long, apex apiculate; mentum short, obtuse. Petals obliquely ligulate, slightly narrowing to the base, a little shorter than the sepals, apex apiculate. Lip 3-lobed in the middle, 0.9 by 0.8 cm, cuneate at the base, in basal half transversely rugulose inside, with a linear basal keel extending to the base of the midlobe, the midlobe densely covered with subulate papillae; lateral lobes obliquely oblong-lanceolate, the interior margin denticulate, apex obtuse; midlobe semioblong, hardly longer than the lateral lobes, margins crenate-undulate. Column short, clinandrium 3-lobulate, the lateral lobules rounded, small, the median lobule a little shorter, tooth-like; column-foot concave. Anther rounded-cucullate, in front truncate, subdenticulate.
(after Schlechter, 1912 - as Dendrobium microglossum).
Colours: Flower cream-coloured, the lip with an orange-yellow keel, column-foot with an orange-yellow spot.
Habitat: Epiphyte in lowland and lower montane forest. Altitude 0 to 1000 m.
Flowering time in the wild: May, August, December.
Distribution: Moluccas, New Guinea, Kei Islands, Australia.
Distribution in New Guinea: Papua (Manokwari Regency); Papua New Guinea (Western, Morobe, Oro, central, and Milne Bay Provinces; Manus Island).
Cultivation: Warm growing epiphyte.