Dendrobium cucumerinum
Cucumber orchid
Family OrchidaceaeAlso called Gherkin orchid
About
The cucumber orchid is an epiphyte of eastern Australia named for its short, fleshy, bumpy leaves that look like tiny gherkins. It bears small cream to greenish-white flowers streaked purple.
Field notes
Morphology
Creeping stems 3–4 mm thick carry widely spaced leaves 2–3.5 cm long, thick, fleshy and covered in irregular bumps. Flowering stems 3–5 cm long hold two to eighteen cream, yellowish or greenish-white flowers 1.2–2 cm wide, sometimes foul-smelling, with twisted sepals and petals streaked reddish purple and a white, purple-marked lip.
Distribution & habitat
Endemic to eastern Australia, from Jimna in Queensland to Picton in New South Wales and inland to Armidale and the Blue Mountains. It often grows on large trees near streams but also in drier forest.
Ecology
Usually grows on river oak (Casuarina cunninghamiana), sometimes on other trees or on rocks.
History & etymology
Described in 1842 from a plant William Macleay collected on swamp oak at Brownlow Hill; John Lindley published the description in Edwards's Botanical Register. It is also treated as Dockrillia cucumerina.
Habitat
- Altitude
- Not recorded
- Altitude class
- —
- Native to
- Australia
Cultivation
- Difficulty
- Not recorded
Text adapted from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
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