Dalzell
Description
Dendrobium crispum, as applied here, is an epiphytic orchid of the Himalayan and Indo-Burmese region. Under current taxonomy the name Dendrobium crispum Dalzell is treated as a synonym, the accepted concept here being Dendrobium crispum (with the linked material referable to Dendrobium peguanum); GBIF records, though few, point to occurrence in India and adjacent Himalaya. It grows as an epiphyte on tree trunks and mossy branches in humid broadleaved and subtropical forest. The photograph was taken near Trisuli in Nepal at about 2500 m in October, indicating a montane forest habitat with seasonal monsoon moisture.
The plant forms clustered, slender, often pendent or ascending stems (pseudobulbs) bearing distichous, narrowly oblong to lanceolate leaves with sheathing bases. The flowers are small, borne in short few-flowered racemes from the upper nodes; the sepals and petals are pale, the lateral sepals forming a short mentum with the column foot, and the labellum is the most ornamented part of the flower, with a recurved, often crisped or fringed margin and a coloured, sometimes pubescent disc. The column is short, bearing a terminal anther with waxy pollinia, and the small fruit is a ribbed dehiscent capsule releasing dust-like seed.
Dendrobium is one of the largest orchid genera, and the taxonomy of small-flowered Himalayan species has been repeatedly revised, with several names entering synonymy as concepts were clarified, including the present one. Like most epiphytic orchids the species depends on mycorrhizal fungi for germination and on insect pollinators. All Dendrobium are listed on CITES Appendix II; the chief threats are forest clearance and collection for the horticultural trade.
Author: Dalzell · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Orchids of Nepal, CITES Appendix II listings, Seidenfaden's revisions of Asian Dendrobium