Dendrobium quinquelobatum Schltr., Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. Beih. 1 (1912) 622; 21 (1928) t. 210, fig. 791.
Type: Schlechter 19869 (holo B, lost).
Rhizome very short, roots elongated, filiform, flexuose, glabrous. Stems crowded, patent, strongly laterally compressed, to 80 cm by 13-15 mm, densely many-leaved. Leaf sheaths 1.3-1.5 cm, entirely covering the stem, ancipitous. Leaves suberect, narrowly elliptic, 9-12 by 2.1-3.3 cm, base subpetiolate, apex acute, keeled below. Inflorescences arising laterally from the stem, subsessile, 2-flowered; spathe very short, laterally flattened, broadly obtuse. Ovary 1 cm long, sessile, cylindrical, glabrous. Flowers c. 4 cm across. Dorsal sepal ovate-elliptic, 2.5 cm long, apex obtuse. Lateral sepals falcate, much widened in basal half, 2.5 cm long, apex obtuse; mentum subglobose, 1.6 cm across. Petals obliquely oblong-subspathulate, a little shorter than the sepals, apex obtuse. Lip suborbicular, 5-lobed at the apex, 1.1 by 1 cm, inside with sparse transverse warts, just below the apex with a few irregular calli; exterior lateral lobes semioblong, apical margin subcrenulate, obtuse, interior lateral lobes a little shorter, obliquely quadrangular, truncate; midlobe as long as the exterior lobes, subquadrangular, apiculate. Column short, a little narrowed to the apex; column-foot very long, incurved, at the apex with an oblong, rugose callus. Anther broadly quadrangular-cucullate, at the base slightly excised, in front truncate, glabrous.
(after Schlechter, 1912).
Colours: Flower salmon-coloured, the interior lateral lobes of the lip light vermilion, callus on the column-foot vermilion.
Habitat: Epiphyte in lower montane forest. Altitude 1200 m.
Flowering time in the wild: June.
Distribution: New Guinea (endemic).
Distribution in New Guinea: Papua New Guinea (Morobe Province: Maboro Mountains).
Map: QUILBMAP.JPG [Dendrobium quinquelobatum Schltr., distribution map.]
Cultivation: Intermediate growing epiphyte.