Dendrobium aemulum
Ironbark feather orchid
Family OrchidaceaeAlso called White feather orchid, Ironbark orchid
About
An epiphytic orchid of eastern Australia that lives on trees with persistent bark, especially ironbarks. It carries reddish-brown pseudobulbs, a few leathery leaves and sprays of white, feathery flowers.
Field notes
Morphology
Hard, straight, reddish to purplish-brown pseudobulbs 5–18 cm long bear two to four dark green, leathery leaves folded along the midrib. Flowering stems up to 10 cm carry two to twelve white to pale yellow flowers about 2 cm across, with very narrow, widely spreading and drooping sepals and petals that give a feathery look.
Distribution & habitat
Eastern Australia, from the Calliope Range near Gladstone in Queensland south to Moruya in New South Wales, in open forest from the coast to nearby tablelands.
Ecology
Grows on trees that keep their bark, such as ironbarks, brush box (Lophostemon confertus) and cypress pines (Callitris).
History & etymology
Described by Robert Brown in 1810 in his Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae. The epithet is Latin for 'rivalling' or 'emulating'.
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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