Dendrobium vagabundum A.D.Hawkes & A.H.Heller, Lloydia 20 (1957) 124 (nom. nov.).
Basionym: Dendrobium vagans Schltr.
Rhizome elongated, creeping. Stems patent to decumbent, slender, terete, branched, to 50 cm long, densely many-leaved. Leaf sheaths entirely covering the stem. Leaves erect-patent, narrowly linear, 3.5-6 by 0.3-0.4 cm, apex subacutely unequally bilobulate, subcoriaceous. Inflorescences arising laterally from the stem, peduncle short, 1-flowered. Floral bract small. Pedicel and ovary 0.6 cm long, clavate, glabrous. Flower not resupinated, c. 0.6 cm across. Dorsal sepal elliptic, 0.35 cm long, obtuse to subobtuse. Lateral sepals obliquely elliptic, connate to beyond the middle, widened at the base, 0.35 cm long, apex obtuse to subobtuse; mentum oblongoid, 0.3 cm long, obtuse. Petals obliquely elliptic, 0.3 cm long, obtuse. Lip 3-lobed in apical fourth, 0.5 by 0.3 cm, narrowly cuneate at the base, in apical half sparsely pilose, with a semilunate backwards-pointing fleshy callus in apical half of the blade; lateral lobes semiorbicular, obtuse; midlobe twice as large, obtusely apiculate. Column semiterete, 0.23 cm long, clinandrium 3-lobulate; column-foot 0.3 cm long.
(after Schlechter, 1923).
Colours: Flower white.
Habitat: Epiphyte in lower montane forest. Altitude 1150 m.
Flowering time in the wild: September.
Distribution: New Guinea (endemic).
Distribution in New Guinea: Papua New Guinea (East Sepik Province).
Notes: Poaephyllum fuscum Ridl. looks similar to this species; the former is certainly not a true Poaephyllum but a species of Dendrobium sect. Herpetophytum.
Cultivation: Intermediate growing epiphyte.