Species Information - Dendrobium austrocaledonicum

Dendrobium austrocaledonicum Schltr., Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. 3 (1906) 80.

Type: Rat, le 187 (holo B, lost).

Synonyms:

• Dendrobium xanthophaeum Schltr., Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. Beih. 1 (1912) 558; 21 (1923) t. 187, fig. 703.
  - Type: Schlechter 19348; 19787 (B, lost).
• Distichorchis xanthophaea (Schltr.) M.A.Clem., Telopea 10, 1 (2003) 282

Rhizome very short, roots elongated, filiform, flexuose, glabrous. Stems crowded, erect or patent, slender, rather fleshy, flexuose, up to 40 cm by 5-7 mm, densely many-leaved. Leaf sheaths entirely covering the stem. Leaves erect-patent, oblong-ligulate, 2-4 by 0.7-1 cm, apex strongly unequally and obtusely bilobulate, coriaceous. Inflorescences arising laterally from the stems, 1-flowered; peduncle very short. Floral bract ovate, small, much shorter than the pedicel and ovary. Pedicel and ovary 1 cm long, subclavate, glabrous. Flower resupinated, c. 1.5 cm across, fleshy. Dorsal sepal ovate, 0.8 cm long, apex apiculate. Lateral sepals obliquely ovate, widened at the base, 0.8 cm long, apex apiculate; mentum conical, 0.4 cm long, obtuse. Petals obliquely oblong, 0.7 cm long, apex obtuse. Lip 3-lobed in the middle, 1.1 by 1 cm, with a short narrow claw at the base, with two parallel keels extending from the base to just below the apex, on the midlobe with a shorter keel in between; lateral lobes obliquely lanceolate-triangular, obtuse; midlobe broadly reniform, 0.6 by 0.8 cm, margins slightly undulate, apex retuse, obtusely apiculate. Column short, clinandrium 3-lobulate; lobules short; column-foot 0.4 cm long. Anther rounded-cucullate, in front emarginate and minutely papillose.
(after Schlechter, 1912, as Dendrobium xanthophaeum).

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