Dendrobium paspalifolium J.J.Sm., Nova Guinea 18 (1935) 52, pl. 11, 32.
Type: Docters van Leeuwen 10845; 10899 (syn BO).
Stems crowded, elongated, branching, slender, terete, 50 cm long, internodes 2.4 cm long. Leaf sheaths not verrucose. Leaves patent, narrowly linear, 5-8.5 by 0.2-0.3 cm, papyraceous, margins at the apex cartilaginous, ciliolate, apex acute. Inflorescences lateral, racemose, very short; peduncle 0.3 cm long, 4-flowered. Floral bracts triangular. Flowers c. 2.6 cm long. Dorsal sepal 1.1 cm by 6.3 mm; mentum conical, 1.65 cm long. Petals 1.1 cm by 4.4 mm. Lip when flattened 1.8 by 0.9 cm, for c. 1.3 cm adnate to the column-foot, apex cucullate, plicate, margin shortly and narrowly serrate-lacinulate. Column 0.35 cm long; column-foot 1.6 cm long, apical part covered with a membrane which is oblong-excised at the apex.
(after Smith, 1935).
Colours: Flower orange, apices yellow.
Habitat: Epiphyte in mossy montane forest. Altitude 2500-2600 m.
Flowering time in the wild: October.
Distribution: New Guinea (endemic).
Distribution in New Guinea: Papua (Puncak Jaya Regency).
Notes: Dendrobium paspalifolium is one of the many relatives of Dendrobium subclausum, its main claim to distinction being based upon the very narrow leaves and the not warty leaf-sheaths.
Cultivation: Intermediate growing epiphyte.