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Dendrobium malbrownii

McIlwraith hermit orchid

Family Orchidaceae

About

The McIlwraith hermit orchid is a small, wiry-stemmed orchid known only from rainforest in the McIlwraith Range of north Queensland. Each stem bears a single tiny, shiny cream flower with a purple and yellow lip.

Field notes

Morphology

Crowded, wiry stems 10–30 cm long and about 1 mm thick carry narrow leaves 3–6 cm long in two rows. Each stem produces one cream flower about 7–8 mm wide with a small purple and yellow labellum.

Distribution & habitat

Endemic to the McIlwraith Range, tropical north Queensland, Australia, on small rocks, logs and trees in rainforest.

Ecology

Flowers between December and April.

History & etymology

Described in 1967 by Alick Dockrill in Australian Plants, honouring Malcolm Brown, who collected the type.

Read the full article on Wikipedia →

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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