Dendrobium coriaceum
Dendrobium coriaceum, commonly known as the inland rock orchid, is a species of lithophytic orchid that is endemic to North Queensland. It has tapered pseudobulbs, up to three thick, leathery leaves and up to forty yellow or cream-coloured flowers with purple markings on the labellum.
Description
Dendrobium coriaceum is a lithophytic herb with spreading roots and tapering green to reddish pseudobulbs long and wide. Each pseudobulb has up to three thick, leathery, dark green leaves originating from its top, the leaves long and wide. Between twenty and forty cream-coloured to yellow flowers long and wide are arranged on a flowering stem long. The dorsal sepal is oblong, long and wide. The lateral sepals are long, wide and strongly curved. The petals are linear to oblong, long and about wide. The labellum is cream-coloured with reddish purple streaks, long and wide with three lobes. The sides lobes are erect and curved and the middle lobe has a more or less square-cut tip. Flowering occurs between August and October.
Taxonomy and naming
The inland rock orchid was first formally described in 2006 by David Jones and Mark Clements from a specimen collected near Yeppoon. It was given the name Thelychiton coriaceus and the description was published in Australian Orchid Research. In 2014, Julian Shaw changed the name to Dendrobium coriaceum. The specific epithet is a Latin word meaning "of leather", referring to the leaves and fleshy flowers.
Dendrobium coriaceum grows on rocks and cliffs on the Blackdown Tableland and in Carnarvon National Park in Queensland.