Dendrobium bigibbum
Cooktown orchid
Family OrchidaceaeAlso called Mauve butterfly orchid
About
The Cooktown orchid grows on trees and rocks in tropical Queensland and southern New Guinea. Tall pseudobulbs bear arching sprays of up to twenty lilac-purple flowers.
Field notes
Morphology
Green or purplish pseudobulbs 20–120 cm tall each carry three to five egg-shaped leaves 10–15 cm long. Arching flowering stems 20–40 cm long hold two to twenty lilac-purple, occasionally bluish or pinkish flowers 3–7 cm wide, with broad petals and widely spreading lateral sepals.
Distribution & habitat
Rainforest, coastal scrub, riverbanks, swamps and open forest in tropical Queensland; var. bigibbum also in southern New Guinea and var. schroederianum in the Tanimbar Islands of Indonesia.
History & etymology
Described by John Lindley in 1852 in Paxton's Flower Garden. Plants of the World Online accepts four varieties, which the Australian Plant Census treats as synonyms.
Conservation
Listed as vulnerable in Australia under the EPBC Act 1999, threatened by settlement and visitor pressure, unsuitable fire regimes and illegal collecting.
Habitat
- Altitude
- Not recorded
- Altitude class
- —
- Native to
- Australia, Papua New Guinea, Indonesia
Cultivation
- Difficulty
- Not recorded
Text adapted from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
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