Dendrobium okinawense

Japanese name: オキナワセッコク （沖縄石斛）
Scientific name: Dendrobium okinawense

[Overview]
An evergreen perennial found in the cloud zone and in forests along mountain streams, growing as an epiphyte on large trees such as itajii and Okinawa-urajirogashi.
The rhizome is short and produces many roots.
Several fleshy, cylindrical stems about 30–70 cm long hang down.
The leaves are simple and alternate, lanceolate, about 10 cm long, glossy on the upper surface, with entire margins.
The flowers emerge one or two at a time from the upper nodes of the stem; they are white to pale pink and fragrant.
The dorsal sepal is lanceolate, and the lateral sepals are broadened at the base, forming a spur-like chin.
The lateral petals are lanceolate.
The lip is triangular-ovate, with two plate-like projections on the upper surface, densely covered with soft hairs.
The base of the lip has a pale green pattern.
It resembles Sekkoku, but can be distinguished by being larger overall and by the different shape of the lip.

[History]
It was once regarded as the same species as Sekkoku, but in 1970 it was newly described on the basis of a specimen collected on Mt. Yonaha in Kunigami and cultivated in Fukuoka.

[Notes]
It is designated a Specified National Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora under the Act on Conservation of Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (Species Conservation Act), and collecting, transfer and the like are regulated.

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