The flowers
The whole plant
Synonyms
None
Origin in the Wild
Brunei, Sarawak and Sabah
Elevation in the Wild
1500-1650 metres
Habitat in the Wild
In Brunei this plant has been found on Mount Pagon and in the Badas Forest Reserve.
In Sabah it has been found on Mount Tawai, Mount Kinabalu, Mount Lotung and along the Keningau to Kimanis road.
Within Sarawak this species has been found on Mount Murud in Lawas District and on Mount Pagon.
The habitat is recorded by Jeffrey Wood as “hill and lower montane forest, sometimes on ultramafic substrate; mossy forest with many Casuarina spp., undergrowth of climbing bamboo; montane ridge forest 5-20 metres high on sandstone” (Wood 2001).
The Plants Description
The pseudobulbs crowd along a short and branching rhizome that grows to 5cm long. The pseudobulbs are shaped ovoid or oblong-ovoid. The pseudobulbs measure 0.8-1.4cm long and 0.4-0.6cm wide. The pseudobulbs are a pale orange brown or reddish-orange colour. The pseudobulbs are covered by 3-5 cataphylls while they are growing. The cataphylls disintegrate into fibres as the pseudobulbs mature. The leaves are petiolate, the petiole measures 1.2-3.5cm long. The leaf blades are shaped narrowly linear and have obliquely obtuse to acute apices. The leaf blades measure 4.5-13.5cm long and 0.1-0.3cm wide. The leaves are thin textured and have 3 distinct nerves.
The Inflorescence
The inflorescence is synanthous and grows from the nearly fully expanded leaf. The peduncle is gently curved and measures 5.0-9.5cm long. The rachis is quadrangular in cross section, nodding and measures 5.0-7.0cm long. The flowers are spaced 2-3mm apart. There are 3-4 non-floriferous bracts at the base of the rachis.
The Flowers
Between 16 and 26 flowers grow on an inflorescence. The flowers have tepals that are either deep yellow, bright lemon yellow or greenish yellow and have salmon pink or brownish orange colouring at their bases. The labellum is cream or yellow and the column is greenish white (Wood 2001). The sepals and petals spread widely. The dorsal sepal is shaped narrowly oblong-elliptic and has an acute apex. The dorsal sepal measures 4.0-4.3mm long and 1.0-1.1mm wide. The dorsal sepal is three veined and has an entire margin. The lateral sepals are shaped narrowly elliptic and have acute often somewhat falcate apices. The lateral sepals measure 4.4-4.5mm long and 1.0-1.1mm wide. The lateral sepals are three veined and have entire margins. The petals are shaped narrowly elliptic and have acute apices. The petals measure 3.7-4.0mm long and 1.0-1.2mm wide. The petals are three veined and have minutely erose margins. The labellum is stipitate to the column foot by a small claw, 3-nerved and obscurely 3-lobed. The labellum measures 3.0-3.1mm long and 1.0-1.5mm wide. The side lobes are rounded and have irregular erose-serrate margins. The mid-lobe is concave, shaped elliptic and has a subacute to acute apex. The margins of the labellum are minutely erose. There are two keels than terminate at the base of the mid-lobe. There is an elevated median nerve the joins the keels basally to form an M shape. The column is incurved and measures 1.5-2.0mm long. The column foot is short. The apical hood is cuneate, shaped rounded to triangular and has an obtuse apex and entire margin. The stelidia grow upwards from the middle of the column and are shorter than the column apex, just reaching the anther cap. The stelidia are subulate and measure 0.5-0.8mm long.
Herbarium Specimens
Holotype
SING
Isotype
Royal Botanic Gardens Kew (K)
Specimen K000079109 (photo)
AMES
Specimen 98763 (photo)
Other herbarium specimens
National Herbarium Netherlands, Leiden (L)
Royal Botanic Gardens Kew (K)
E
SAN
Scent
Either scented or unscented (Wood 2001).
Flowering Season
Flowering plants have been collected in the wild during January, April, November and December. In Brunei plants have been collected during January and April.
Culture
I do not think this species is in cultivation
Similar Species
Dendrochilum galbanum (see this page for the differences)
Other Information
The record of this species from near sea level in Brunei could have been cited in error (Wood 2001) I have not included this particular specimen in any of the text above.
The epithet refers to the grass like leaves.
Reference –
BEAMAN, Teofila, WOOD, Jeffrey, BEAMAN, Reed, BEAMAN, John. 2001, Orchids of Sarawak, Natural History Publications Borneo, Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia.
CARR, C.E. 1935, Gardeners. Bulletin. Straits Settlem. 8: 235
WOOD, Jeffrey. Dendrochilum of Borneo, 2001. Natural History Publications (Borneo), Malaysia.
World Checklist of Selected Plant Families. 23 July 2009. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published on the Internet; http://www.kew.org/wcsp/ accessed 23 July 2009.