Dendrochilum crassilabium J.J.Wood 1994 SUBGENUS Platyclinis SECTION Platyclinis

TYPE Drawing by Susanna Stuart Smith

Common Name or Meaning The Thick Lip Dendrochilum

Flower Size .4" [1 cm]

Found in Borneo in mixed hill dipterocarp forests and upper montane ridge forests at elevations around 1300 to 2500 meters as a mini-miniature to miniature sized, cool to cold growing, epiphtye with ovoid-elliptic, to narrowly fusiform, smooth, crowded pseudobulbs enveloped by 3 ovate-elliptic, acute, becoming fibrous sheaths and carrying a single, apical, erect, narrowly linear-ligulate, acute, coriaceous, 3 main nerved, narrowing below into the sulcate, petiolate base leaf that blooms in the late winter and early spring on a erect then pendulous, peduncle 2.2 to 5.6" [5.5 to 14 cm] long, filiform, provided with 1 to 2, ovate-elliptic, acute t acuminate bracts, rachis .28 to .72" [.7 to 1.8 cm] long, quadrangular, slightly fractiflex, laxly 2 to 6 flowered inflorescence with ovate, acuminate, brown longer than the ovary floral bracts and carrying flowers with dull brownish salmon, transluscent tepals, and a paler brownish salmon lip.

"D crassilabium is similar in habit to D pachyphyllum and has similarly colored flowers. The leaves of D crassifolium however are coriaceous, never thick and fleshy, and are normally proportionally longer. The inflorescence is usually longer than the leaves, The sepals and petals are obtuse and the thick fleshy labellum is slightly longer and usually has a shallowly retuse, obovate-spathlate mid-lobe and lacerate side-lobes." J J Wood 2001

Synonyms

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; *A Checklist of the Orchids of Borneo Wood & Cribb 1994 drawing fide; Dendrochilum of Borneo J J Wood 2001 drawing fide; Orchids of Sarawak Beeman & Wood 2001; The Orchids of Mount Kinabalu Vol 2 Wood, Beaman, Lamb, Chu Lun and Beaman 2011

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