Robiquetia gracilistipes
Robiquetia gracilistipes, commonly known as large pouched orchid, is an epiphytic or lithophytic orchid from the family Orchidaceae that forms large, hanging, straggly clumps. It has long, thick, roots, a single stem, many thick, leathery leaves and up to forty cream-coloured, pale green or brownish flowers with red spots and a three-lobed labellum. It grows on trees and rocks in rainforest, usually in bright light. It is found in Malesia including New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and tropical North Queensland, Australia.
Description
Robiquetia gracilistipes is an epiphytic or lithophytic herb that forms large, straggly hanging clumps. It has thick roots and a pendulous stem, long and about thick. There are many thick, leathery leaves long and wide. Between ten and forty resupinate, cup-shaped, cream-coloured, pale green or brownish flowers with red spots are crowded on a pendulous flowering stem long. The flowers are long, and are fragrant. The sepals and petals are fleshy, oblong to egg-shaped, long and about wide. The labellum is yellow, about long and wide with three lobes. The middle lobe is fleshy, about long with a downturned spur about long. Flowering occurs from March to May.
Taxonomy and naming
Large pouched orchid was first formally described in 1905 by Rudolf Schlechter who gave it the name Saccolabium gracilistipes and published the description in Die Flora der Deutschen Schutzgebiete in der Sudsee und Nachtrage. In 1912 Johannes Jacobus Smith changed the name to Robiquetia gracilistipes. The specific epithet is derived from the Latin word gracilis meaning "slender" or "thin" and stipes meaning "stock", "stem" or "trunk".
Distribution and habitat
Large pouched orchid grows on trees and rocks in rainforest, usually in strong light. It occurs in Malesia, including New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and Queensland, Australia where it is found from the Iron Range to Ingham.