About
The crab orchid grows in far north Queensland rainforest, often on branches overhanging streams. Long flattened stems carry leaves on their upper half and small, warty, reddish-brown flowers with a yellow centre.
Field notes
Morphology
Flattened stems 50–80 cm long bear eight to fourteen leaves 6–10 cm long, mostly on the upper half. One or two flowers about 2 cm across sit in the leaf axils; they are reddish brown with a yellow centre, open only partly, and have curved, warty sepals and petals.
Distribution & habitat
Rainforest between the McIlwraith Range and the Johnstone River in Far North Queensland, Australia, usually on trees and often over watercourses.
History & etymology
Described by Trevor Hunt in 1947 in the North Queensland Naturalist from a specimen from the Bellenden Ker range. The epithet comes from the Latin cancer, 'crab'.
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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