Dendrobium spatella Rchb.f. 1865 SECTION Aporum
Photos by © Pierre Bonnet from the Orchis project website
Common Name The Little Broad Flat Blade Dendrobium [refers to the lip shape] - In China Jian Ye Shi Hu
Flower Size 1/2" [1.25 cm]
Found in Assam, eastern Himalayas, Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Fujian, Guangxi, Hainan and Yunnan provinces of China, Hong Kong and Malaysia in forest margins on tree trunks or in forests on rocks at elevations of 500 to 900 meters as a small sized, warm growing epiphyte or lithophyte with erect, laterally compressed, basally contracted, becoming slender distally, unbranched, many noded stem carrying distichous, axcending, slightly sparsely overlapping to alternate, laterally compressed, dagger-shaped, thickly leathery or fleshy, dilated below into sheaths that clasp the stem, acute leaves that blooms in the spring on a lateral, along the leafless pseudo-raceme, short, single flowered inflorescence
This species has been often been misidentified as Dendrobium acinaciforme Roxburgh (e.g., in FRPS 19: 142. 1999), which is in fact a native of Ambon Island in Maluku, Indonesia and is quite rare.
Synonyms Aporum banaense (Gagnep.) Rauschert 1983; Aporum spatella (Rchb.f.) M.A.Clem. 2003; Callista spatella (Rchb.f.) Kuntze 1891; Dendrobium acinaciforme var. minus Tang & F.T.Wang 1951; Dendrobium banaense Gagnep. 1930;
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Orchidaceae Monandre-Dendrobiinae Fr. Kraenzlin 1910; Orchid Species Culture Dendrobium Bakers 1996 as D acinaciforme var minus; Orchid Species Culture, Dendrobium Bakers 1996; The Orchids of Bhutan Cribb & Pearce 2002; The Dendrobiums H. P. Wood 2006 photo fide; Orchids of India A Glimpse Misra 2007; Flora of China Vol 25 Zhengyi, Raven & Deyuan 2009; Flora of China Vol 25 Illustrations Zhengyi, Raven & Deyuan 2010 drawing ok; The Atlas of Wild Orchids in Hainan Island, China Shenyan and Junmei 2010 as D acinaciforme photo ok; The Wild Orchids of Hong Kong Barretto, Cribb and Gale 2011 drawing/photo fide; Turczaninowia 16(4):26-46 NEW AND RARE ORCHIDS (ORCHIDACEAE) IN THE FLORA OF CAMBODIA AND LAOS Averyanov 2013; Genera Orchidacearum Vol 6 Epidendroidee Pt 3 Pridgeon, Cribb, Chase and Rasmussen 2014 drawing/photo ok; Atlas of Native Orchids of China Vol 1 Jin Xiaohua, Li Jianwu and Ye Deping 2019 photo fide;
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