Dendrobium crepidatum Lindl. & Paxton 1850 SECTION Dendrobium

Photo by © Lourens Grobler

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Common Name The Shoe-Lip Dendrobium [refers to the cavity at the base of the column foot] - In China Mei Gui Shi Hu - In Thailand Ueang Sai Nam Khieo

Flower Size 1 to 1.8" [2.5 to 4.6 cm]

Found from Hainan province of China, Assam, Bangladesh, eastern Himalayas, India, Nepal, Sikkim, western Himalayas, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos and Vietnam in semi-evergreen forests at elevations of 600 to 2100 meters as a small to medium sized, cool to warm growing epiphyte occuring on tree trunks as a suberect to pendant growing orchid that is best mounted on tree fern or cork. This species has tufted, suberect to pendulous, terete, striated, to 18" [to 45 cm] long, many noded stems each covered with a papery sheath, and carrying 5 to 9, oblong to narrowly lanceolate, acute leavesblooms in the spring on a short, purple inflorescence with the 1 to 4 shiny, waxy, delicately fragrant, longlasting flowers arising from near the apex of year old leafless stems. Drying out of the plant during the winter is nessasary with occasional waterings and no fertilizer until the initiation of new growth in the spring.

CAUTIONGoaverts at Kew, W3 Tropicos and IPNI all put D lawianum as a synonym of Dendrobium crepidatum, but it can easily be separated by the curving in one direction pseudobulbs, smaller white flowers .8" [2 cm] across, with an obscure mentum, and the differently shaped lip that is slightly clawed basally without a yellow patch and the column has 2 purple processes. So I have separated it and its synonyms, to see it please go to the listing for D lawianum

Synonyms Callista crepidata (Lindl. & Paxton) Kuntze 1891; Dendrobium actinomorphum Blatt. & Halb. 1921; Dendrochilum roseum Dalzell 1852

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Orchids of Burma Grant 1895/1995; The Orchids of Sikkim-Himalaya Part 1 King & Pantling 1898 drawing good; The Orchids of North-Western Himalaya Vol IX Part II Duthie 1906; Orchidaceae Monandre-Dendrobiinae Fr. Kraenzlin 1910; Die Orchideen Schlechter 1915; Atlas des Orchidees Cultivees Constantin 1920 as Euddendrobium crepidatum drawing fide; Die Orchideen 2 Auflage Schlechter 1927; AOS Bulletin Vol 27 No 3 1958 drawing ok; The Orchids of Thailand Seidenfaden & Smitinand 1960; AOS Bulletin Vol 33 No 10 1964 drawing fide; Encyclopedia of Cultivated Orchids Hawkes 1965; AOS Bulletin Vol 36 #10 1967 photo fide; Beautiful Indian Orchids and How to grow them Ghose 1968; AOS Bulletin Vol 44 #9 1975 as D crepidatum var assamicum photo fide; Beautiful Thai Orchid Species Kamemoto & Sagarik 1975 photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 47 No 11 1978 as D crepidatum var assamica photo fide see below; Indian Orchids: A guide to Identification and Culture Vol II Pradhan 1979 photo fide photo fide; Opera Botanica #83 Orchid Genera in Thailand XII Dendrobium Sw. Seidenfaden 1985 drawing/photo fide; Orchids of Northwest Himalaya Deva & Naithani 1986 drawing fide; Orchids of Kumaun Himalayas Pangtey, Samant and Rawat 1991; Thai Orchid Species Rakpaibulsombay 1992 photo fide; The Manual Of Cultivated Orchid Species Bechtel, Cribb & Laurent 1992 photo fide; The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Orchids Pridgeon 1992 photo fide; Identification of the Orchids [Orchidaceae Juss.] Vietnam Averyanov 1994; Manual of Orchids Stewart 1995; Orchid Species Culture; Dendrobium Bakers 1996; Wild Orchids of China Tsi, Chen Mori 1997 photo fide; Dendrobium and their Relatives Lavarack, Harris and Stocker 2000 photo fide; A Field Guide to the Wild Orchids of Thailand Vaddhanaphuti 2001 photo fide; Orchids of Bhutan Pearce & Cribb 2002; AOS Bulletin Vol 74 No 5 2005 photo fide; A field Guide to the Wild Orchids of Thailand Vaddhanaphuti 2005 photo fide; 100 Sikkim Himalayan Orchids Pradham 2005 photo fide; The Dendrobiums H. P. Wood 2006 photo fide; Wild Orchids in Myanamar Vol 3 Tanaka 2007 photo fide; Orchids of India A Glimpse Misra 2007 drawing ok; Orchid Digest Vol 73 #2 2009 photo fide; Mille Et Une miniOrchidees Roguenant 2009 photo fide; A Field Guide to the Orchids of China Singchi, Zhongjian, Yibo, Xiaohua and Zhanhuo 2009 photo fide; Flora of China Vol 25 Zhengyi, Raven & Deyuan 2009; Orchid Digest Vol 74 #4 2010 photo fide; Flora of China Vol 25 Illustrations Zhengyi, Raven & Deyuan 2010 drawing fide; The Wild Orchids in Yunnan Xu Xiang Ye & Liu 2010 photos ok; Turczaninowia 16(4):26-46 NEW AND RARE ORCHIDS (ORCHIDACEAE) IN THE FLORA OF CAMBODIA AND LAOS Averyanov 2013 ; Wild Orchids of Myanmar Hyan Tun [Mr Myanmar] 2014 Photo fide; Wild Orchids of Myanmar Hyan Tun [Mr Myanmar] 2014 as D crepidatum var alba Photo fide; Orchids of Odisha Misra 2014 drawing/photo fide; LANKESTERIANA 15(1): 7—50. Jeewan Singh Jalal & J. Jayanthi 2015; Turczaninowia 19 (3): 5–58 L. V. Averyanov, Khang Sinh Nguyen etal 2016 ; Lankesteriana Vol 18 [1]: 23–62 Jalal & Jayanth 2018 photo actually D crepidatum var album; Flora of China Vol 25 Zhengyi, Raven & Deyuan 2009; Orchids of Maharashtra Jalal 2018; Atlas of Native Orchids of China Vol 1 Jin Xiaohua, Li Jianwu and Ye Deping 2019 photo fide;

Dendrobium crepidatum Griff. 1851 var album

Photo by Beau

A white colored version of the previous species.

W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Lankesteriana Vol 18 [1]: 23–62 Jalal & Jayanth 2018 photo fide

Dendrobium crepidatum Griff. 1851 var assamicum

Photo by © Eric Hunt

A territorial variation of D crepidatum AOS Bulletin Vol 47 No 11 1978 photo fide; Wild Orchids in Myanmar Tanaka 2007 photo fide;

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