Synonyms
None
Origin in the Wild
Sarawak
Elevation in the Wild
1,200 metres
Habitat in the Wild
The type was collected in Sarawak in the northern Hose Mountains of the Kapit District. The plant was found on the base of a ridge leading to Batu Hill. The Kew isotype states the following about the habitat, “Lower montane forest c.25m high, trees with some moss on the branches, under-growth dense. Terrain rather steep, bed-rock sandstone”
The Plants Description
This species is a little known epiphyte. The pseudobulbs are shaped elliptic. The pseudobulbs measure c5cm long and c2cm in diameter. The pseudobulbs are covered by 4-5 cataphylls while they are growing. The cataphylls disintegrate into non-persistent fibres as the pseudobulbs mature. The leaves are petiolate; the petiole measures 5-6cm long. The leaf blades are shaped elliptic and have acute apices. The leaf blades measure 22-25cm long and 5.3-5.7cm wide.
The Inflorescence
The peduncle is erect and measures c22cm long. The rachis is suberect and measures c14cm long. The rachis is quadrangular in cross-section. The flowers alternate distichously and are spaced 5-6mm apart. There are no non-floriferous bracts at the base of the rachis. The flowers open from the central section of the rachis.
The Flowers
The colour of the flower has not been recorded. The dorsal sepal is shaped oblong-elliptic to ovate-elliptic and has an apiculate apex. The dorsal sepal measures c4mm long and c1.9mm wide. The dorsal sepal has an entire margin and is three veined. The lateral sepals are shaped ovate-elliptic and have apiculate apices. The lateral sepals measure c4mm long and c1.9mm wide. The lateral sepals have entire margins and are three veined. The petals are shaped elliptic and have acute apices. The petals measure 3.5-3.6mm long and 1.6-1.7mm wide. The petals have entire margins and are three veined. The labellum is concave to the point of enclosing the column, pandurate and obscurely 3-lobed. The side lobes are erect and shaped oblong with uneven to erose margins. The mid lobe is erect, shaped broadly oblong-ovate and has an obtuse apex, apiculate to mucronate in its central lobule. The lateral lobules are shaped slightly falcate. The margins on the labellum are slightly erose at their base. There is a small and fleshy callus with 2 keels at either side of it. The column is slightly dorsally carinate and measures 2.1mm long. The apical hood is shaped ovate and has entire margins. The stelidia grow from the base of the column and slightly exceed the column apex. The stelidia are shaped ligulate and have obtuse apices.
Herbarium Specimens
Holotype
National Herbarium Netherlands (L)
Specimen – I could not find the on-line specimen
Isotype
Royal Botanic Gardens (K)
Specimen K000078198 (drawing)
SAR
Scent
I could find no record.
Flowering Season
Flowering plants have been collected in the wild during December.
Culture
I do not think this species is in cultivation
Similar Species
Dendrochilum gibbsiae
Dendrochilum grandiflorum
Other Information
Jeffrey Wood wrote that the shape of the labellum and column are like that of Dendrochilum gibbsiae. The leaves are different from Dendrochilum gibbsiae and are more like those of Dendrochilum longifolium. The keels do not meet to form an M or U shaped basal transverse ridge as in Dendrochilum grandiflorum and Dendrochilum gibbsiae.
This species only known from Ed de Vogel’s type collection made during 1991.
The epithet refers to the mountain range where the type was collected.
Reference –
BEAMAN, Teofila, WOOD, Jeffrey, BEAMAN, Reed, BEAMAN, John. 2001, Orchids of Sarawak, Natural History Publications Borneo, Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia.
WOOD, Jeffrey. 1997, Orchids of Borneo volume 3. The Sabah Society, Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia.
WOOD, Jeffrey. Dendrochilum of Borneo, 2001. Natural History Publications (Borneo), Malaysia.
World Checklist of Selected Plant Families. 15 January 2009. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published on the Internet; http://www.kew.org/wcsp/ accessed 15 January 2009.