Dendrobium platycaulon

Hi Pak Sheikh,

This looks to me to be a member of section Calcarifera, many of which are still being discovered and subsequently named.

Do you have any more photos that show more of the lip details.

Also, any informaton regarding origin, flower size, size of segments, stem and leaf size will also help narrow down a name.

Cheers.

Gary

Hi Pak Sheikh,

I’d overlooked that your plant could be a member of Dendrobium section Platycaulon as the flattened stems were not obvious to me in your photo. If it does have flattened stems, then Den. platygastrium could be a contender.

However, the flowers in your photos superficially do not look to me like Den. platygastrium. That species is distributed from New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Fiji, New Caledonia and Vanuatu.

Here is some information from 3 sources:

Baker & Baker
2-4 flowers per inflorescence. Flowers are 2-2.5 cm across and remain rather closed. Sepals and petals white or white with a pinkish tinge, becoming purplish with age. Lip is a white with a deep yellow throat. The midlobe is broadly pointed at the apex and has 5 parallel, slightly raised lines. Blossoms may be self-pollinating.

Lewis & Cribb
Flowers 2-4 not opening widely, pale yellow to pink to purple. Lip trilobed, lateral lobes triangular, acute or truncate, white with pale pink lines. This species is variable in size of flowers, angle to the spur to the pedicel, and size and shape of the lip. The accompanying illustration (Plate 5f, Lewis & Cribb) shows whitish flowers that are tinged pink-purple. The lip has a broad, slightly emarginate midlobe with 7 parallel pink-purple lines on the disc.

Lavarack, Harris & Stocker
About 5 flowers lasting about a week and flowering is in 2 or more bursts throughout the year. Midlobe of the lip is rectangular or pointed. The accompanying photograph in the book shows a broad lip with a slightly pointed tip and some parallel lines on the disc.

PK, would you agree that these comments represent the distribution and characteristics of your plant and its flowers? If not, then I don’t think Dendrobium platygastrium would be the appropriate name.

References:
Margaret Baker & Charles Baker, Orchid Species Culture – Dendrobium, 1996.
Beverley Lewis & Phillip Cribb, Orchids of Vanuatu, 1989,
Bill Lavarack, Wayne Harris & Geoff Stocker, Dendrobium and its Relatives, 2006.

Cheers.

Gary