Dendrobium johannis
Chocolate tea tree orchid
Family Orchidaceae
About
The chocolate tea tree orchid grows on trees and rocks in Cape York Peninsula and southern New Guinea. Spindle-shaped pseudobulbs carry sprays of long-lasting, twisted chocolate-brown flowers with a bright yellow lip.
Field notes
Morphology
Brownish or purplish pseudobulbs 10–30 cm long, tapered at both ends, carry five to ten dark green to purplish leaves 10–20 cm long near the top. Flowering stems 10–25 cm long hold six to fifteen flowers 2.5–4.5 cm long, chocolate brown with thick, shiny, twisted segments and a bright yellow lip; they last long but smell unpleasant.
Distribution & habitat
Western Province of Papua New Guinea and, in Australia, from the tip of Cape York Peninsula to the McIlwraith Range and Coen. Locally common at 50–600 m in open forest, swampy ground and monsoon thickets.
History & etymology
Described by Heinrich Gustav Reichenbach in 1865 in The Gardeners' Chronicle from a specimen collected by John Gould Veitch.
Conservation
Listed as vulnerable in Australia under the EPBC Act 1999, chiefly threatened by illegal collecting. IUCN status Near Threatened.
Habitat
- Altitude
- Not recorded
- Altitude class
- —
- Native to
- Australia, Papua New Guinea
- IUCN status
- Near threatened
Cultivation
- Difficulty
- Not recorded
Text adapted from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
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