Dendrobium fleckeri
Dendrobium fleckeri, commonly known as the apricot cane orchid, is a species of epiphytic or lithophytic orchid endemic to far north Queensland, Australia. It has cylindrical pseudobulbs with two or three dark green leaves and up to four apricot-coloured or yellowish green flowers with tangled white hairs on the edge of the labellum.
Description
Dendrobium fleckeri is an epiphytic or lithophytic herb that has cylindrical pseudobulbs long and wide. The pseudobulbs are yellowish green with two or three dark green, egg-shaped leaves long and wide on the end. The flowering stem emerges from the end of the pseudobulb and is long with up to four resupinate, usually apricot-coloured, sometimes yellowish green flowers long and wide. The dorsal sepal is long, wide and the lateral sepals are a similar length but wider. The petals are long and about wide. The labellum is white with a purplish tinge, about long and wide with three lobes. The side lobes are relatively large, upright and pointed and the middle lobe has three keels and dense hairs on its edges. Flowering occurs between August and January.
Taxonomy and naming
Dendrobium fleckeri was first formally described in 1937 by Herman Rupp and Cyril Tenison White and the description was published in The Queensland Naturalist. The specific epithet honours Hugo Flecker, a physician, natural historian, and founding president of the North Queensland Naturalists' Club.
The apricot cane orchid grows in trees, shrubs and boulders in mist forest between Mount Finnigan and Mount Fisher on Cape York Peninsula.