Species Information - Dendrobium affine

Dendrobium affine (Decne.) Steud. Nomencl. Bot., ed. 2, (1841) 489.

Type: Collector? s.n. (Timor) (holo P?).

Synonyms:

• Onychium affine Decne., Nouv. Ann. Mus. Hist. Nat. 3 (1836) 365.
  - Type: Collector? s.n. (Timor) (holo P?).
• Callista affinis (Decne.) Kuntze, Rev. Gen. Pl. (1891) 654.
• Vappodes affinis (Decne.) M.A.Clem. & D.L.Jones, ) M.A.Clem. & D.L.Jones
• Callista dicupha (F.v.Muell.) Kuntze, Rev. Gen. Pl. (1891) 654.
• Dendrobium dicuphum F.Muell., Fragm. 8 (1873) 28.
  - Type: Gulliver s.n. (holo MEL; iso K, W).
• Dendrobium dicuphum F.Muell. var. album Hort. ex E.C.Cooper, Roy. Hort. Soc. Dist. Gardening 2 (1951) 653 (nom. illeg.).
  - Type: not designated
• Dendrobium dicuphum F.Muell. var. grandiflorum Rupp & T.E.Hunt, Proc. Linn. Soc. New South Wales 72 (1948) 241.
  - Type: Piper or Langdon s.n. (lecto BRI, chosen by Clements).
• Dendrobium leucolophotum Rchb.f., Gard. Chron. (1882, II) 552. -
  - Type: Veitch cult. s.n. (Malay Arch.); Sander cult. s.n. (Malay Arch.) (syn W).
• Callista leucolophota (Rchb.f.) Kuntze, Rev. Gen. Pl. (1891) 655.
• Dendrobium urvillei Finet, Bull. Soc. Bot. France 50 (1903) 372, pl. 11, fig. 1-9.
  - Type: Guichenot s.n. (voyage Capt. Baudin); Le Guillou 40; 41 (voyage l' Astrolabe) (syn P).

Rhizome short. Stems crowded, erect, clavate, thickened at the base, 30-37 cm long, 12-29 mm wide in the middle, above the base 5.5-6 mm wide, becoming grooved with age, in upper part 6-9-leaved, internodes to 4-4.5 cm long, shorter in upper part. Leaf sheaths tubular, ribbed. Leaves patent, narrowly lanceolate, 9.5-19 by 2-3 cm, apex obliquely acute to unequally acutely 2-dentate, carnose, c. 5-nerved, the median nerve slightly prominent below, the others grooved on both sides. Inflorescences arising from the upper internodes of the stem, racemose, erect, curved, 35-54 cm long; peduncle 23-28 cm by 1.75-2.5 mm, terete, peduncle-scales several, tubular, shortly acuminate; rachis 12-26 cm long, laxely 12-25-flowered. Floral bracts lanceolate-triangular, 0.3-0.6 cm long, apex sharply acuminate, concave. Pedicel 2 cm long; ovary 0.6-0.7 cm long, 6-grooved, curved. Flowers 3 cm across. Dorsal sepal narrowly oblong, 1.75-2 cm by 5.7-6.3 mm, apex abruptly shortly acuminate. Lateral sepals obliquely oblong, lightly falcate, a little widened to the base, 1.75-1.9 cm by 7-9 mm, apex abruptly acuminate; mentum spur-like. Petals much broader than the sepals, rhombic-obovate, 2-2.35 cm by 13.5 mm, cuneate-clawed at the base, apex broadly obtuse to rounded, apiculate. Lip 3-lobed above the middle, 1.5-1.75 by 1-1.1 cm, with 3 low keels extending to below the middle of the midlobe, on and also between the keels with muricate-scaly hairs; lateral lobes erect, incurved, obliquely ovate-triangular, clasping the column and extending beyond it, slightly undulate, broadly obtuse; midlobe porrect, linear-oblong, 0.75-0.85 by 0.4-0.45 cm, obtuse, shortly acuminate. Column thick, 0.25-0.38 cm long, papillose, clinandrium 5-dentate, stigma large, short, broadly subobovate; column-foot at right angles to the ovary, 0.57-0.75 cm long, almost straight, consisting of two parts, the basal part broad, flat, quadrangular, 0.17-0.3 cm long, grooved, convex, the upper part spur-like, straight, oblong, 0.4-0.45 cm long, laterally compressed, apical margin recurved, inside with two large fleshy calli separated by a deep groove. Anther cucullate, dorsally emarginate, apex truncate, ciliolate, papillose. Pollinia narrowly obliquely oblong-pyriform.
(after Smith, 1909).

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