Orchids of New Guinea

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Dendrobium mayandyi

Dendrobium mayandyi T.M.Reeve & Renz, Orchidee 32 (1981) 73, fig. 3, phot.

Type: Reeve 310 (holo LAE; iso BM, K, L).

Synonyms:

Sayeria mayandyi (T.M.Reeve & Renz) Rauschert, Feddes Repert. 94 (1983) 467.

An erect to pendulous epiphytic herb. Pseudobulbs clustered, narrowly clavate or fusiform, slender and terete below, several-noded, 6-30 cm long, up to 1.3 cm diam., drying yellow, orange or reddish, 2-3 (4)-leaved at apex. Leaves coriaceous, suberect, very shortly petiolate, narrowly elliptic-lanceolate, acute, 6-11.5 by 1.4-2.2 cm. Inflorescences 1-4, subterminal, erect to arcuate, emerging through leaf-bases, 8.5-10 cm long, 5-7-flowered; peduncle terete, bearing 3 amplexicaul sheaths along length; bracts falcate, lanceolate, acuminate, 8-12 mm long. Flowers small, very fleshy. Dorsal sepal ovate, subacute or rounded, 11 by 6 mm; lateral sepals obliquely triangular, subacute or rounded at apex, 12 by 10 mm; mentum conical, 8 mm long. Petals linear, rounded at apex, 9-9.5 by 1.5-2 mm, papillose on margins. Lip entire with a narrow claw, notched on each side towards base, obovate, obtuse or rounded at apex, 9-11 by 6-8 mm; side margins erect or incurved; callus fleshy, obscurely 3-ridged, dilated at apex. Column 1.5-3.5 mm long; column foot 7-8 mm long; anther cap hemispherical, papillose.
(after Cribb, 1983).

Colours:

Flowers off white to pale yellow, mottled and flecked with maroon on pedicel, mentum and base of lip; lip green marked with maroon, with a whitish callus spotted maroon on margin.

Habitat:

Epiphyte in mossy montane forests of Nothofagus, Podocarpus, etc. Altitude 1800 to 3100 m.

Distribution:

New Guinea, Bismarck Archipelago.

Distribution New Guinea:

Papua New Guinea (widespread in the central mountain range; also on New Britain and New Ireland).

Map: Dendrobium mayandyi T.M.Reeve & Renz, distribution map, redrawn from P. Cribb, Kew Bull. 38 (1983) 294, map 9.

Cultivation:

Cool growing epiphyte.

Flowering time in the wild:

January, May, August, September, December.

Classification:

Family Orchidaceae
Subfamily Epidendroideae
Tribe Dendrobieae
Subtribe Dendrobiinae
Section Latouria
Species Dendrobium mayandyi

Literature:

Cribb, P.J. 1983. Kew Bull. 38: 288, fig. 17, pl. 17A, map 9.

Notes:

Dendrobium mayandyi T.M.Reeve & Renzis allied to Dendrobium leucohybos Schltr. but differs markedly in having larger acuminate bracts and a distinctive lip which is narrowly clawed with a notch on each margin towards the base, a high fleshy non-sulcate callus and a blunt rather than apiculate apex. It is also allied to Dendrobium pachystele Schltr. but in that species the pseudobulbs are one-leafed and the lip has a bisulcate callus and lacks the notches on the margins near the base.
(after Cribb, 1983).