Species Information - Dendrobium hippocrepiferum

Dendrobium hippocrepiferum Schltr., Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. Beih. 1 (1912) 642; 21 (1928) t. 216, fig. 818.

Type: Schlechter 18736 (holo B, lost; iso AD, AMES, G, L, NSW).

Synonyms:

• Herpetophytum hippocrepiferum (Schltr.) Rauschert, Feddes Repert. 94 (1983) 454.

Rhizome stem-like, decumbent, roots elongated, filiform, flexuose, glabrous. Stems erect to patent, terete, sometimes rooting, unbranched, to 50 cm by 1.5-1.75 mm, densely many-leaved. Leaf sheaths 0.15-0.17 cm wide, entirely covering the stem. Leaves erect, lanceolate, 1.7-3 by 0.3-0.4 cm, base subpetiolate, apex obtuse, unequally bilobulate, coriaceous. Inflorescences arising lateraly from the stem, 1-flowered, sessile. Pedicel and ovary 0.7 cm long, glabrous. Flower not resupinated, c. 1 cm long. Dorsal sepal oblong, 0.7 cm long, apex obtuse. Lateral sepals (subfalcate, obliquely oblong,) sublobate-widened at the base, 0.7 cm long, apex obtuse; front margins coherent; mentum sac-like, 0.35 cm long, obtuse. Petals obliquely narrowly elliptic-spathulate, a little shorter than the sepals, apex obtuse. Lip 3-lobed near the apex, broadly cuneate in outline, 0.65 by 0.55 cm, claw-like narrowed at the base, inside in basal half minutely pubescent, in the centre with a hoof-iron-shaped callus, of which the legs are parallel and extend to the base of the midlobe; lateral lobes slightly divergent, obliquely triangular, obtuse; midlobe distinctly surpassing the lateral lobes, quadrangular, margins below the apex incurved, apex obtusely apiculate. Column short, clinandrium 3-lobulate, the lateral lobules rounded, the median a little longer, obtuse; column-foot ligulate, curved, 0.35 cm, long. Anther very broadly cordate-cucullate, glabrous, in front truncate.
(after Schlechter, 1912).

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