Robust epiphyte. Pseudobulbs compressed-cylindrical, to 50 cm long, fleshy, furrowed with age. Leaves numerous, strap-shaped to oblong, to 12 cm long, to 3 cm wide, falling after 2 years. Flowers 2-4, to 8 cm wide, pink or mauve grading to white at base. Sepals lanceolate. Petals ovate, wider than sepals. Labellum obovate, funnel-shaped at base, downy, throat of labellum maroon; spring to summer.
Many varieties have been recognised based mainly on flower colour, and these are sometimes found in cultivation.
Occasionally cultivated are:
D. aphyllum (Roxb.) Fisch., which has pink flowers with a pale yellow labellum.
D. crepidatum Lindl. &Paxton, which has white, lilac tinted flowers with deep yellow base to the labellum.
D. devonianum Paxton, which has white flowers with purplish tips to the segments and 2 orange blotches at the base of the labellum.
D. falconeri Hook., which has white flowers with purplish tips to the segments, orange labellum side lobes and reddish-purple labellum throat.
D. findlayanum Parish &Rchb. f., which has pale lilac flowers with the centre of the labellum yellow and the throat deep reddish-purple.
D. linawianum Rchb. f., which is similar to D. nobile but smaller in all its parts.
D. parishii Rchb. f., which has pink flowers with 2 maroon blotches near the base of the labellum and a white callus.
D. pendulum Roxb., which has white flowers with purplish tips to the segments and deep yellow base to the labellum.
D. primulinum Lindl., which has pale mauve flowers with a pale yellow, purple-streaked labellum.
D. wardianum Warner, which has waxy white flowers with purplish tips to the segments, yellow base to the labellum and 2 reddish blotches in the labellum throat.
India, China and SE Asia.
Source: (2005). Orchidaceae. In: . Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia. Volume 5. Flowering plants. Monocotyledons. The identification of garden and cultivated plants. University of New South Wales Press.
