Orchids of New Guinea

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Dendrobium bracteosum

Dendrobium bracteosum Rchb.f., Gard. Chron. (1886, II) 809; Lindenia 2 (1886) 55 t. 71.

Type: Linden cult. s.n. (New Guinea) (holo W ?).

Synonyms:

Pedilonum bracteosum (Rchb.f.) Rauschert, Feddes Repert. 94 (1983) 457
Dendrobium chrysolabium Rolfe, Gard. Chron. (1889, I) 770.
- Type: Veitch cult. s.n. (New Guinea).
Dendrobium dixsonii F.M.Bailey, Queensland Bot. Bull. 13 (1896) 33.
- Type: Not indicated (New Guinea, ?Dixson).
Dendrobium eitapense Schltr., Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. Beih. 1 (1912) 504; 21 (1923) t. 171, fig. 636.
- Type: Schlechter 12976 (holo B, lost; lecto: L, chosen by Dauncey 1995; iso G, L).
Pedilonum eitapense (Schltr.) Rauschert, Feddes Repert. 94 (1983) 459.
Dendrobium leucochrysum Schltr., Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 58 (1923) 101 ('leucochysum').
- Type: Ledermann 7629; 8720 (syn B, lost).
Pedilonum leucochrysum (Schltr.) Rauschert, Feddes Repert. 94 (1983) 461 ('leucochysum').
Dendrobium novaehiberniae Kraenzl., Österr. Bot. Zeitschr. 44 (1894) 301.
- Type: Micholitz s.n (New Ireland, between Cape Carteret and Port Praslin) (holo HBG, iso HBG).
Dendrobium trisaccatum Kraenzl., in Engl., Pflanzenr. IV. 50. II. B. 21 (1910) 107.
- Type: Beccari s.n. (holo FI, iso HBG).

Rhizome very short. Pseudobulbs crowded, laxly several-leaved, erect-patent to patent, cylindrical, somewhat narrowed to the base, fleshy, 5-35 by 0.4-0.8 cm. Leaves erect-patent, linear to linear-ligulate, 4-9 by 0.45-1.8 cm, apex unequally and obtusely bilobulate. Inflorescences racemose, densely 3-15-flowered, subsessile, to c. 4 cm long. Floral bracts ovate to lanceolate, about as long as the dorsal sepal or a little shorter, apex acute, keeled outside. Pedicel and ovary 0.8-1 cm long, subclavate, glabrous. Flowers 2-2.5 cm long. Sepals keeled outside. Dorsal sepal oblong-elliptic, 9-1.7 cm long, apex apiculate. Lateral sepals oblong-elliptic, much widened at the base, free part 0.8-1.6 cm long, apex apiculate; mentum conical-oblongoid, straight, 0.5-0.9 cm long, obtuse. Petals obliquely linear to obovate, somewhat narrowed to the base, 0.8-1.7 cm long, apex obtuse to acute, apiculate. Lip subpandurate-ligulate with the narrowest part near the middle, 1.3 by 0.3 cm, in basal fourth with the margins adnate to the column-foot, in the narrowest part with a low, backwards-pointing, often shortly 3-lobed lamella; margins to the apex erose to minutely ciliate, apex subacute to acuminate. Column 0.35 cm long, clinandrium with entire to denticulate margins; column-foot 0.5-0.9 cm long.
(after Schlechter, 1923 - as Dendrobium leucochrysum, and O'Byrne, 1994).

Colours:

Sepals and petals white, greenish white, pink, red or rarely orange, lip yellow to orange.

Habitat:

Epiphyte in lowland and lower montane rainforest, swamp forest, mangroves and limestone hill forest. Altitude 0-1150 m.

Distribution:

New Guinea, Bismarck Archipelago.

Distribution New Guinea:

Papua (Manokwari and Jayapura Regencies); Papua New Guinea (East Sepik, Madang, Central, Oro, and Milne Bay Provinces, New Britain, New Ireland, Lousiades).

Cultivation:

Warm to intermediate growing epiphyte, requires bright position and watering throughout the year

Flowering time in the wild:

Throughout the year. Flowers last 3 to 4 months (fide O'Byrne).

Classification:

Family Orchidaceae
Subfamily Epidendroideae
Tribe Dendrobieae
Subtribe Dendrobiinae
Genus Dendrobium
Section Calyptrochilus
Species Dendrobium bracteosum

Literature:

O'Byrne, P. 1994. Lowland Orchids of Papua New Guinea: 290, fig., pl.
Schlechter, R. 1912. Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. Beih. 1: 503.
Schlechter, R. 1923. Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. Beih. 21: t. 170, fig. 635.
Smith, J.J. 1911. Nova Guinea 8, 3: 567, t. 93C.
Smith, J.J. 1916. Nova Guinea 12, 3: 335.
Summerhayes, V.S. 1962. Curtis's Bot. Mag. 173: t. 389.

Notes:

Dendrobium bracteosum Rchb.f. is a common and widespread species, of which several colour forms are known, all with a yellow to orange lip.