PAPUA NEW GUINEA ORCHID NEWS

ORCHID GENUS DESCRIPTION

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Dendrobium biloculare J.J. Smith
- REDISCOVERED -
Lost in Papua New Guinea for over 90 Years!

This article was first published in Orchids Australia, Vol. 10 No. 5 (October 1998) and is reprinted here with kind permission by the author.
Photos and line drawings by Phil Spence

Dendrobium biloculare was discovered in 1904 by J.J. Smith in New Guinea. It was officially described and published in Rec. Trav. Bot. Neerl. 1:148 (1904) and was then lost – for over 90 years! Cribb referred to its disappearance in Kew Bulletin Vol. 38 (2) 1983. This long lost orchid was rediscovered in 1996 by a team from the National Capital Botanical Gardens (NCBG), Port Moresby, during an expedition to the Torricelli Mountains in Sanduan Province, north-west PNG.

Dendrobium biloculare J.J. Smith
photo by Phil Spence

The orchid has now flowered (and subsequently produced seed – more of this later.) and photographed for the first time. The photos were released for publication in Orchids Australia v.10 no.5 – October 1998. Needless to say we were very proud to have been chosen to bring this historic find to the orchid community. So proud we featured it on the cover of that issue!

A complete report on this amazing discovery will be published in an upcoming issue of Lasianthera, the scientific orchid journal of Papua New Guinea. (Due to be published half-yearly and available on subscription from the NCBG, PO Box 7270, Boroko, NCD, Papua New Guinea.)

The following is an extract of the original description for Dendrobium biloculare J.J. Sm.
In Rec. Trav. Bot. Neerl. 1:148 (1904)
Type: New Guinea, Zippel (hototype L!)

A medium sized, ?pendulous, epiphytic herb. Pseudobulbs clustered, sub-clavate, 8 – 26 x 1cm dull yellow, 2-leaved at apex. Leaves relatively thin-textured, elliptic-ovate, acute or acuminate, 14 x 4.5 cm. Inflorescences up to 15cm long, few-flowered; peduncle slender, wiry, bracts narrowly elliptic, acute, 6mm long.

Flowers medium-sized. Dorsal sepal ovate, acute, 1.35 x 0.7 cm; lateral sepals obliquely ovate, acute, mentum broadly conical, 5-6mm long. Petals elliptic-lanceolate, acute, 14 x 3.5mm. Lip 3-lobed, 1.4 x 1.5cm; side lobes erect, lamost as large as mid-lobe, elliptic, rounded in front; mid-lobe transversely oblong-reinform, apiculate; callus fleshy, with apex free for 2.5mm and 2-lobed. Column 1.5mm long, with 2 hook-like apical stelidia, foot 5-6mm long.

Distribution: West New Guinea only. (This is obviously no longer correct as the Sandaun Province is located in 'East' New Guinea = Papua New Guinea - Ed.)

drawing by Phil Spence

Philip Cribb added in the 1983 Kew Bulletin:
"This species is allied to Dendrobium convolutum but is readily distinguished by its large side-lobes which overlap the mid-lobe when the lip is flattened and by its bilobed callus which is free at the apex. It has not been recollected since its original discovery."

The NCBG laboratory currently has seed germinating in its laboratory. They intend making legal supplies of PNG orchids available to the orchid community in a couple of years. Their laboratory is only just up and running.

Photos and line drawing by Phil Spence, NCBG, Port Moresby.

Colin Hamilton
Publications Director
Orchids Australia