Genus Dendrobium section Rhizobium
Genus Dendrobium sect. Rhizobium Lindl., Paxton's Fl. Gard. 1 (1850-51) 136, sub t. 27. Type species: Dendrobium linguiforme Sw.
Synonyms:
- Genus Dendrobium sect. Carnifolia Rchb.f. in Ann. Bot. Syst. (Walpers) 6 (1861) 282. Type species: Dendrobium linguiforme Sw.
- Genus Dendrobium subgen. Rhizobium (Lindl.) Kränzl. in Engl. Pflanzenr. IV. 50. II. B. 21 (1910) 289. Type species: Dendrobium lingniforme
- Genus Dendrobium sect. Strongylophyllum Schltr., Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 39 (1906) 67. Type species: Dendrobium teretifolium R.Br.
- Genus Dockrillia Brieger in Schltr., Orchideen ed. 3, 1 (1981) 745. Type species: Dockrillia linguiformis (Sw.) Brieger (basionym: Dendrobium linguiforme Sw.).
Rhizome elongated, creeping or pendulous. Pseudobulbs distant, consisting of one internode, very short, cylindric, not thicker than the rhizome, 1-leaved. Leaves often pendulous, terete or rarely bilaterally flattened and gherkin-shaped or dorsiventrally flattened and less fleshy, thick coriaceous, without midnerve, glabrous; leaf sheath not present. Inflorescences racemose, 1- to many-flowered, usually subterminal on the stem. Flowers small to medium-sized, resupinate or not, fleshy, often short-lived. Sepals not connate; mentum short, prominent, not spur-like, open in front.Lip mobile on the column foot, usually 3-lobed, with three lamellate keels.
Lesser Sunda Islands, New Guinea, Australia, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, Fiji, Samoa. About 30 species; in New Guinea c. 9 species.
Epiphytes in savannah and in lowland and montane forest.
- Family Orchidaceae
- Subfamily Epidendroideae
- Tribe Dendrobieae
- Subtribe Dendrobiinae
- Genus Dendrobium
- Section Rhizobium
- Lavarack, B., W. Harris & G. Stocker. 2000. Dendrobium and its relatives. Timber Press, Portland, Oregon.
Dendrobium Section Rhizobium is one of the easiest of all sections in the genus to recognise, even without flowers. Each shoot carries only a single leaf, which in the majority of species is long, pendulous, and terete. Dendrobium rigidum deviates from the others in having a broad, very fleshy, laterally flattenedf, leathery and gherkin-like leaf. In recent years this section was often regarded as a separate genus, Dockrillia. We prefer to keep a broader defined genus Dendrobium, rather than to elevate almost each section to generic rank.
Genus Dendrobium sect. Rhizobium Lindl. contains c. 30 species, in New Guinea 10 species:
Dendrobium caudiculatum
Dendrobium chordiforme
Dendrobium contextum
Dendrobium desmotrichoides
Dendrobium erythraeum
Dendrobium flagellum
Dendrobium fuliginosum
Dendrobium leptophyton
Dendrobium nothofageti
Dendrobium rigidum
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Genus Dendrobium section Rhizobium
Dendrobium chordiforme Kraenzl., inflorescence, photo J. Meijvogel, based on Leiden cult. 32149
Genus Dendrobium section Rhizobium
Dendrobium sp. sect. Rhizobium, plant in situ, photo Ed de Vogel, from Papua New Guinea, East New Britain Prov.
Genus Dendrobium section Rhizobium
Dendrobium rigidum R.Br., habit detail, photo P. O'Byrne, based on O'Byrne D550
Genus Dendrobium section Rhizobium
Dendrobium rigidum R.Br., flowers, photo P. O'Byrne, based on O'Byrne D551