Dendrobium dielsianum

Dendrobium dielsianum Schltr., Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 58 (1923) 112.

Type: Schultze 235 (holo B, lost).

Rhizome very short. Stems crowded, patent, slender, terete, unbranched, to 50 cm long, many-leaved. Leaf sheaths entirely covering the stem, lined with prominent veins. Leaves erect-patent, lanceolate to narrowly oblong-lanceolate, narrowed to the base, 3 to 4 times as long as the sheaths, 9-12 by 1.5-2.5 cm, apex subacute. Inflorescences racemose, subsessile, short, densely 8-15-flowered. Floral bracts elliptic, usually slightly longer than the ovary, apex usually narrowly obtuse. Ovary 1.1 cm long, subsessile, cylindrical, scaly-furfuraceous. Flowers c. 1.8 cm long, waxy. Sepals outside sparsely scaly-furfuraceous. Dorsal sepal elliptic, 1.1 cm long, apex obtuse. Lateral sepals obliquely elliptic, much widened at the base, 1.1 cm long, apex obtuse; mentum oblongoid, 0.7 cm long, obtuse. Petals obliquely elliptic, 0.9 cm long, apex obtuse. Lip obovate-oblong, somewhat narrowed in the middle, concave, 1.4 by 0.65 cm, in basal third with a semi-elliptic, appressed, backwards-pointing, deeply lacerate-dentate appendage, in apical third inside densely covered with short backwards-pointing hairs, apex broadly obtuse. Column 0.5 cm long; column-foot 0.7 cm long, with an elliptic cavity.
(after Schlechter, 1923).

Colours: Flower whitish.

Habitat: Epiphyte in lowland forest.

Flowering time in the wild: November.

Distribution: New Guinea (endemic).

Distribution in New Guinea: Papua New Guinea (Sepik River).

Cultivation: Epiphyte (requirements not known).

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