Dendrobium nindii
Blue antler orchid
Family Orchidaceae
About
The blue antler orchid is a large epiphyte of coastal swamps and rainforest in north Queensland and New Guinea. Tall leafy pseudobulbs bear sprays of up to twenty mauve to violet flowers with twisted, antler-like petals.
Field notes
Morphology
Cylindrical, blackish-brown pseudobulbs 0.5–2.5 m tall are leafy in the upper half, with six to twenty-two leathery dark green leaves in two rows. Terminal flowering stems 20–50 cm long hold eight to twenty mauve or violet flowers 5–6 cm across with slightly twisted, widely spreading segments and a dark-veined lip.
Distribution & habitat
Coastal swamps and near-coastal rainforest between the McIlwraith Range and Innisfail in Queensland, and similar habitats in New Guinea including the Vogelkop Peninsula.
Ecology
Grows on trees including mangroves and palms.
History & etymology
Described in 1874 by Walter Hill from a specimen Philip Henry Nind collected on trees over tidal streams of the Moresby and Johnstone Rivers.
Conservation
Listed as endangered under Australia's EPBC Act 1999 and Queensland's Nature Conservation Act 1992, mainly threatened by land clearing and illegal collection. IUCN: Least Concern.
Habitat
- Altitude
- Not recorded
- Altitude class
- —
- Native to
- Australia, Papua New Guinea, Indonesia
- IUCN status
- Least concern
Cultivation
- Difficulty
- Not recorded
Text adapted from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
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