Species Information - Dendrobium nigricans

Dendrobium nigricans Schltr., Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. Beih. 1 (1912) 638; 21 (1928) t. 215, fig. 811.

Type: Schlechter 19613 (holo B, lost).

Synonyms:

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

Rhizome more or less elongated, decumbent, stem-like. Stems erect, terete, branched, to 20 cm by 1 mm, densely many-leaved. Leaf sheaths 0.1 cm wide, entirely covering the stem. Leaves erect-patent, linear to linear-ligulate, 1.2-2 by 0.2-0.25 cm, apex unequally obtusely bilobulate, coriaceous. Inflorescences arising laterally from the stem, 1-flowered, sessile. Floral bract very small, much shorter than the pedicel and ovary. Pedicel and ovary 0.4 cm long, glabrous. Flower not resupinated, c. 0.7 cm long. Dorsal sepal oblong, 0.5 cm long, apex obtuse. Lateral sepals falcate-oblong, sublobate-widened at the base, 0.5 cm long, coherent to just below the apex, apex apiculate; mentum sac-like, oblongoid, c. 0.25 cm long, obtuse. Petals obliquely elliptic-ligulate, a little shorter than the sepals, apex obtuse. Lip 3-lobed near the apex, with an oblong-ligulate, concave basal claw, much widened in upper part, 0.4 by 0.3 cm, pilose inside on the claw, with two parallel lamellae which are decurrent to the base and apex and which are widened in the apical part and converge to a linear process at the base; lateral lobes falcate-divergent, ovate-triangular, front margin lightly undulate, apex obtuse; midlobe slightly longer, very broadly triangular, obtuse. Column short, clinandrium 3-lobulate, the lateral lobules rounded, the median slightly longer, triangular; column-foot linear-ligulate, incurved at the apex, c. 0.25 cm long.
(after Schlechter, 1912).

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