Dendrobium rubropictum

Dendrobium rubropictum Schltr., Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. Beih. 1 (1912) 612; 21 (1928) t. 206, fig. 777.

Type: Schlechter 19981 (holo B, lost; iso AMES, BO, G, L, NSW, S).

Rhizome very short, roots elongated, filiform, flexuose, glabrous. Stems crowded, erect, unbranched, slightly laterally compressed, slender, 40-65 cm long, many-leaved. Leaf sheaths entirely covering the stem, minutely rugulose. Leaves erect-patent to almost patent, (linear-lanceolate), 10-14 by 0.9-1.3 cm, apex acute, unequally acutely bilobulate. Inflorescences arising laterally from the stem, subsessile, 2-flowered; spathe laterally compressed, semioblong, obtuse. Pedicel and ovary 1.1 cm long, glabrous. Flowers c. 2 cm across. Dorsal sepal oblong, 1.3 cm long, apex obtuse. Lateral sepals obliquely oblong, widened at the base, 1.3 cm long, apex obtuse; mentum 0.4 cm long, obtuse. Petals obliquely elliptic-spathulate, 1.2 cm long, apex subacute. Lip 3-lobed in the middle, 0.8 by 0.6 cm, cuneate at the base, inside transversely rugulose-verruculose, with a basally dentate keel extending to the middle of the midlobe, on the base of the midlobe with an oblong cushion-shaped verruculose callus; lateral lobes obliquely oblong, exterior margins subcrenulate, apex obtuse; midlobe twice as long, 0.55 cm wide, broadly cuneate, apex almost truncate, minutely apiculate. Column short, clinandrium 3-lobulate, the lateral lobules rounded, minutely serrulate, median tooth-like; column-foot incurved, 0.4 cm long. Anther rounded-cucullate, in front retuse, glabrous.
(after Schlechter, 1912).

Colours: Flower white, lateral lobes of the lip with red markings, keel golden yellow, column-foot with a golden yellow spot at the apex.

Habitat: Epiphyte in lowland and lower montane forest. Altitude 15 to 1250 m.

Flowering time in the wild: January, August.

Distribution: New Guinea (endemic).

Distribution in New Guinea: Papua New Guinea (Sandaun and Southern Highlands Provinces).

Map: RUBROMAP.JPG [Dendrobium rubropictum Schltr., distribution map.]

Cultivation: Warm growing epiphyte.

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