Species Information - Dendrobium melanotrichum

Dendrobium melanotrichum Schltr., Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. Beih. 1 (1912) 558; 21 (1923) t. 188, fig. 704.

Type: Schlechter 20093 (holo B, lost).

Synonyms:

• Distichorchis melanotricha (Schltr.) M.A.Clem., Telopea 10, 1 (2003) 281
• Dendrobium striatiflorum J.J.Sm., Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. 12 (1913) 114; Nova Guinea 12, 3 (1916) 329, t. 118, fig. 217.
  - Type: Gjellerup 662 (holo BO).

Rhizome very short, roots elongated, filiform, flexuose, glabrous. Stems crowded, erect or patent, slender, rather fleshy, subflexuose, 30-40 cm by 3-4 mm, many-leaved, unbranched. Leaf sheaths entirely covering the stem, densely covered with prickly black hairs. Leaves erect-patent, lanceolate-oblong, 1.5-3 by 0.4-0.7 cm, apex unequally and obtusely bilobulate, coriaceous. Inflorescences lateral from the stems, 1-flowered, rarely 2-flowered; peduncle very short. Floral bract deltoid, minute, much shorter than the pedicel and ovary. Pedicel and ovary 1 cm long, subclavate, glabrous. Flower resupinated, c. 1.5 cm across, nodding. Dorsal sepal oblong, slightly narrowed to the base, 0.9 cm long, apex apiculate. Lateral sepals obliquely oblong, widened at the base, 0.9 cm long, apex apiculate; mentum conical, 0.5 cm long, obtuse. Petals obliquely oblanceolate-spathulate, 0.9 cm long, margins irregular, apex obtuse. Lip 3-lobed in apical third, 1.6 by 0.45 cm across lateral lobes, narrowly cuneate at the concave base, with 3 subparallel keels extending from the base of the lip to the base of the midlobe, the keels thickened towards the apex; lateral lobes tooth-like, minute, acute; midlobe suborbicular, 0.5 by 0.65 cm, margins undulate-crenulate, apex rounded, obtusely apiculate. Column short, glabrous, clinandrium 3-lobulate; lateral lobules rounded, the median shorter, tooth-like; column-foot 0.5 cm long. Anther subcordate-cucullate, in front minutely papillose.
(after Schlechter, 1912).

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