About
The erect pencil orchid is endemic to tropical north Queensland, growing on trees and rocks in exposed upland sites. Yellowish stems carry pencil-like leaves and sprays of cream to pale yellow flowers with a thread-tipped lip.
Field notes
Morphology
Sparsely branched yellowish stems 0.2–1 m long bear cylindrical, shallowly grooved dark green leaves 8–20 cm long. A flowering stem 4–8 cm long from a leaf base holds eight to fifteen cream to pale yellow flowers about 2 cm across whose narrow segments curve outward with age; the lip ends in a long, tapering tip.
Distribution & habitat
Endemic to tropical north Queensland, Australia: exposed trees and rocks on the Atherton and Evelyn Tablelands at 800–1,500 m, and near the tops of rainforest trees between the Russell and Johnstone Rivers at lower altitudes.
History & etymology
Described by William Nicholls in 1936 as a variety of Dendrobium beckleri; Stephen Clemesha and Alick Dockrill raised it to species rank in 1964.
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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