Dendrobium fargesii Finet, Bull. Soc. Bot. France 50: 374. 1903; Desmotrichum fargesii (Finet) Kraenzlin; Sarcopodium fargesii (Finet) Tang & F. T. Wang.

Rhizome creeping, 2-3 mm in diam., densely covered with chestnut tubular sheaths. Pseudobulbs borne ca. 1 cm apart on rhizome, prostrate below middle, subovate, ca. 10 × 3-5 mm, 1-leaved, with chestnut membranous sheaths at base. Leaf blade chestnut when dried, ovate or broadly ovate-elliptic, 1-2.3 × 0.7-1.1 cm, thickly leathery, base narrowed into short petiole or subsessile, apex rounded and retuse. Inflorescence flowered; peduncle ca. 1 cm, base with 2 or 3 membranous sheaths; floral bracts ovate, ca. 3 mm, membranous. Flowers not opening widely, sepals and petals pale pink or reddish orange, lip white; pedicel and ovary ca. 7 mm. Dorsal sepal ovate, ca. 10 × 6 mm, acute; lateral sepals obliquely ovate-lanceolate, ca. 15 × 6 mm, acute; mentum ca. 5 mm. Petals ovate-lanceolate, smaller than lateral sepals, acute; lip ± oblong-obovate in outline, ca. 2 × 1.1 cm, 3-lobed; lateral lobes erect; mid-lobe spreading, suboblate, deeply bilobed, margin ± undulate; disk with 2 longitudinal thickened keels, extending from base to base of mid-lobe, swollen distally. Column ca. 5 mm, stout; foot ca. 1.5 cm. Fl. mainly Apr-May.

Lithophytic on rocks along valleys, epiphytic on tree trunks in forests; 400-2400 m. S Anhui, N and W Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, Sichuan, Taiwan, C and SE Yunnan, S and SE Zhejiang [Bhutan, Thailand, ?N Vietnam].