Dendrobium serratipetalum

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

Type: Ledermann 10915 (holo B, lost), para: Ledermann 8845; 12175 b (B, lost).

Rhizome very short. Stems crowded, patent, slender, unbranched, 30-45 cm long, many-leaved. Leaf sheaths entirely covering the stem. Leaves erect-patent, narrowly lanceolate, somewhat narrowed at the base, 7-11 by 0.7-1.2 cm, apex oblique, acute. Inflorescences racemose, subsessile, short, few-flowered. Floral bracts elliptic, as long as or a little longer than the ovary, apex obtuse, outside furfuraceous. Ovary 0.7 cm long, sessile, cylindrical-subfusiform, furfuraceous-scaly. Flowers c. 1.4 cm long, waxy. Sepals outside scaly-furfuraceous. Dorsal sepal elliptic, 0.75 cm long, apex obtuse. Lateral sepals obliquely elliptic, widened at the base, 0.75 cm long, apex obtuse; mentum oblongoid-conical, 0.7 cm long, obtuse. Petals obliquely obovate-elliptic, almost as long as the sepals, apex obtuse. Lip weakly 3-lobed, in outline broadly obovate-spathulate, 1.1 by 0.6 cm, in basal half with a semioblong, backwards-pointing, lacerate-dentate appendage, on the midlobe covered with backwards-pointing rather stiff short hairs; lateral lobes very short, incurved, margins serrulate; midlobe very large, semiorbicular, margins incurved, unequally serrulate. Column 0.4 cm long; column-foot 0.7 cm long, at the base with an elliptic cavity.
(after Schlechter, 1923).

Colours: Flower white, lightly suffused with yellow-brown.

Habitat: Epiphyte in hill and montane forest. Altitude 600-2070 m.

Flowering time in the wild: February, June, September.

Distribution: New Guinea (endemic).

Distribution in New Guinea: Papua New Guinea (East Sepik Province: Hunstein Mountains, Schrader Mountains).

Cultivation: Intermediate growing epiphyte.

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