Dendrobium aloifolium (Blume) Rchb.f. 1861 SECTION Aporum
Photos by André Schuiteman, courtesy of Jaap Vermeulen and Dr. E.F. de Vogel and Their Netherlands National Herbarium Website
Flower with reflexed petals and sepals
Photo by © Pieter C. Brouwer and his Nature Photo Website
Flower with reflexed petals and sepals
Photo by © Manorot Tangsaveepha Butterfly and Orchids Website
Common Name or Meaning The Aloe-Like Dendrobium - in Thailand - Ueang chang
Flower Size .18" [4mm]
Found in Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Java, Sumatra, Borneo, Lesser Sunda Islands, New Guinea and the Philippines in lowland and hill forests from sea level to 600 meters as a medium to large sized, hot to warm growing epiphyte with upright in youth, pendulous with age stems, leafy below and the apical section covered with leafy bracts that soon fall off leaving bundles of dry, leafless bracts from which the flowers emerge, carrying laterally flattened, acute, distichous, diminishing towards the apex, imbricate, often purplish leaves that blooms in the spring on the leafless, fractiflex, 2 to 4" [5 to 10 cm] long, apical portion of the stem with the successively single flowers well spaced out inflorescence arising from the tufty nodes along the leafless elongate stem.
There seem to be 3 main color varieties: with the first species, the cream striped red flower, and the second, the concolor, cream colored flower with reflexed tepals, and the third, the cream colored flowers with flat tepals. Seidenfaden makes mention that the species with backbent dorsal sepal and petals is more correct for D aloifolium and the flowers of D rhodostele have flowers with forward bent dorsal sepal and petals.
Synonyms Aporum aloifolium (Blume) Brieger 1981; Aporum cochinchinense (Ridl.) Rauschert 1983; Aporum lobbii M.A.Clem. 2003; Aporum micranthum Griff. 1844; Aporum serra Lindl. 1830; Callista aloifolia (Blume) Kuntze 1891; Callista micrantha (Griff.) Kuntze 1891; Dendrobium cochinchinense Ridl. 1896; Dendrobium lobbii Lindl. 1859; Dendrobium micranthum (Griff.) Lindl. 1859; Dendrobium serra (Lindl.) Lindl. 1859; *Macrostomium aloifolium Blume 1825; Orthoglottis imbricata Breda 1830; Oxystophyllum macrostoma Hassk. 1843
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Orchids of Burma Grant 1895/1995 as D serra; Die Orchideen Von Java J.J.Sm. 1905; Materials For a Flora of the Malayan Penninsula Part 1 Ridley 1907 as D serra; Die Orchideen Von Java Figuren Atlas J.J.Smith 1908 drawing fide; Orchidaceae Monandre-Dendrobiinae Fr. Kraenzlin 1910; Orchidaceae Monandre-Dendrobiinae Fr. Kraenzlin 1910 as D cochinchinese; Orchidaceae Monandre-Dendrobiinae Fr. Kraenzlin 1910 as D micranthum; Flora of Malaya Vol 1 Holttum 1953 drawing fide; The Orchids of Thailand Seidenfaden & Smitinand 1960 drawing fide; The Orchids of Thailand Seidenfaden & Smitinand 1965 corrections; Encyclopedia of Cultivated Orchids Hawkes 1965; Die Orchideen lieferung 11 Schlechter/Brieger 1981 as Macrostomium aloifolium; Die Orchideen lieferung 11 Schlechter/Brieger 1981 as Aporum serra Orchidiana Philipiniana Vol 1 Valmayor 1984; Opera Botanica #83 Orchid Genera in Thailand XII Dendrobium Sw. Seidenfaden 1985 drawing/photo fide; Orchids of Java Comber 1990 photo ok; The Orchids of Penninsular Malaysia and Singapore Wood & Seidenfaden 1992 drawing/photo fide; The Manual Of Cultivated Orchid Species Bechtel, Cribb & Laurent 1992 drawing fide; Orchids of Malaya Segerback 1992 photo fide; The Plants of Mount Kinabalu Vol 2 Orchids Wood Beaman & Beaman 1993; A Checklist of the Orchids of Borneo Wood & Cribb 1994; Lowland Orchids of of Papua New Guinea Peter O'Byrne 1994 drawing good; Identification of the Orchids [Orchidaceae Juss.] Vietnam Averyanov 1994; Living with Orchids in Sumatra Landau 1996 photo fide; Orchid Species Culture Dendrobium Bakers 1996; Dendrobium and their Relatives Lavarack, Harris and Stocker 2000 photo ok; Orchids of Sarawak Beaman, Wood, Beaman & Beaman 2001; A Field Guide to the Wild Orchids of Thailand Vaddhanaphuti 2001 photo ok; Orchids of Sumatra Comber 2001; The Orchids of the Philippines Cootes 2001 photo ok; Flora Malesiana Orchids of the Philippines Vol I Agoo, Shuiteman and de Vogel 2003; ; Flora Malesiana Orchids of New Guinea Vol II Shuiteman and de Vogel 2002; A field Guide to the Wild Orchids of Thailand Vaddhanaphuti 2005 photo ok; The Dendrobiums H. P. Wood 2006 photo fide to the yellow color form; Wild Orchids of the Cameron Highlands REACH 2009 photo hmm; Malesian Orchid Journal Vol 6 2010; The Orchids of Mount Kinabalu Vol 2 Wood, Beaman, Lamb, Chu Lun and Beaman 2011 photo fide; Wild Orchids of Penninsular Malaysia Ong, O'Byrne, Yong & Saw 2011 photo ok; Dendrobium of Borneo Wood 2014 photo/drawing fide; Genera Orchidacearum Vol 6 Epidendrodeae Part 3 Pridgeon, Cribb, Chase and Rasmussen 2014; A Guide to the Dendrobium of the Philippines Cootes & Tiong 2015 photo fide;
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
