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greenish-white, with the anterior part of a violet-purple, bearing in front at 
the apex two sharp teeth bent backwards. 
Although the colours of this species are not so bright as some of its 
cognates, it may however be classed amongst the most remarkable of the genus 
‘not only for the grace of its aspect, but for the beauty of its flowers and 
peculiar coloration. The habitat of D. atroviolaceum is Eastern New Guinea, 
where it grows in the warmest and dampest parts. It was introduced by 
Messrs. Verrcu & Sons in 1890. 
D. atroviolaceum is allied to D. macrophyllum A. Ricu. (which must not be 
confounded with D. macrophyllum Lox., which is a synonym of D. superbum 
Reus. F.), also found in New Guinea. It is easy to distinguish one species 
from the other for D. macrophyllum has shorter, stouter pseudo-bulbs; the bracts 
are longer, linear-oblong, not oval; the flowers are yellowish-green, the lip only 
is blotched and veined with deep purple; the ovary and the sepals are hairy, 
not smooth; the petals are shorter than the sepals, not so long as they; the 
lip much longer than the petals, not of the same length. 
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