Species Information - Dendrobium axillare

Dendrobium axillare Schltr., Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. Beih. 1 (1912) 605; 21 (1928) t. 203, fig. 766.

Type: Schlechter 17052 (holo B, lost; iso AMES, BO, E, G, K, L 2x, NSW).

Synonyms:

• Grastidium axillare (Schltr.) Rauschert, Feddes Repert. 94 (1983) 447.

Rhizome very short, roots elongated, filiform, flexuose, glabrous. Stems crowded, erect-patent, straight, unbranched, slightly laterally compressed, 80 cm long, densely many-leaved. Leaf sheaths entirely covering the stem. Leaves patent, oblong-ligulate, slightly narrowing to the apex, 12-15 by 2.8-3.3 cm, apex unequally obtusely bilobulate. Inflorescences arising seemingly from the leaf-axils, short; peduncle short; 2-flowered; spathe laterally compressed, oblong, obtuse. Pedicel and ovary 1.5 cm long, glabrous. Flowers c. 4 cm across. Dorsal sepal oblong, 2.8 cm long, apex obtuse. Lateral sepals obliquely oblong, a little widened at the base, 2.8 cm long, apex obtuse; mentum short, obtuse. Petals obliquely elliptic, a little shorter but broader than the sepals, apex obtuse. Lip 3-lobed in the middle, 1.3 by 0.7 cm, semioblong at the base, with a narrow basal keel extending to beyond the middle; lateral lobes short, falcate-oblong, obtuse; midlobe much larger, 0.7 cm wide, elliptic, obtuse. Column short, rather thick, clinandrium 3-lobulate, the lateral lobules semirhombic, subacute, the median small, tooth-like; column-foot incurved.
(after Schlechter, 1912).

---