Dendrobium cucumerinum

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Cucumber orchid
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Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Order: Asparagales
Family: Orchidaceae
Subfamily: Epidendroideae
Tribe: Dendrobieae
Genus: Dendrobium
Species:
D. cucumerinum
Binomial name
Dendrobium cucumerinum
Synonyms [1]

Dendrobium cucumerinum, commonly known as the cucumber orchid or gherkin orchid, [2] is a species of orchid endemic to eastern Australia. It is an epiphytic orchid with creeping stems, gherkin-like leaves and flowering stems with up to eighteen cream-coloured, yellowish or greenish white flowers with purple stripes. It often grows on large trees near streams but is also found in drier forests.

Contents

Description

Dendrobium cucumerinum is an epiphytic herb with creeping stems 3–4 mm (0.1–0.2 in) thick with widely spaced leaves. The leaves are 20–35 mm (0.8–1 in) long, 9–12 m (30–40 ft) wide, thick and fleshy with many irregular bumps on the surface, giving them the appearance of a small cucumber or gherkin. Between two and eighteen cream-coloured, yellowish or greenish white, sometimes foul smelling flowers 9–12 mm (0.4–0.5 in) long and 12–20 mm (0.5–0.8 in) wide are arranged on a flowering stem 30–50 mm (1.2–2.0 in) long. The sepals and petals are irregularly twisted and have reddish purple streaks near their bases. The sepals are 15–20 mm (0.59–0.79 in) long and about 3 mm (0.12 in) wide, whilst the petals are about the same length but only half as wide. The labellum is white with purple marks and curved, 11–14 mm (0.4–0.6 in) long, 4–5 mm (0.16–0.20 in) wide and has three lobes. The side lobes are upright and the middle lobe is very wavy with three wavy ridges along its midline. Flowering occurs from November to February. [2] [3] [4]

Taxonomy and naming

Illustration from Curtis's Botanical Magazine Dockrillia cucumerina.jpg
Illustration from Curtis's Botanical Magazine

Dendrobium cucumerinum was first formally described in 1842 by William MacLeay and the description was published by John Lindley in Edwards's Botanical Register . [5] Macleay had collected the specimen growing on swamp oak ( Casuarina glauca ) at Brownlow Hill. [6] Lindley noted "Of all the queer things which this strange order produces this is one of the very oddest. Only fancy a handful of little stunted cucumbers lying in a heap, and producing a few pale dirty-yellow striped flowers in the midst, and you have this plant before the eye". [7] The specific epithet (cucumeriaum) is derived from the Latin word cucumis meaning "cucumber". [8]

Lindley recorded the name "W.MacLeay" with the description, but William Woolls noted in 1867 that "Dendrobium Cucumerinum was found by the late Mr.W.S.Macleay, near Brownlow Hill, growing on the swamp oak". [9]

Dendrobium cucumerinum has been recorded hybridising with the straggly pencil orchid ( Dendrobium bowmanii ) where they grow together. [3]

Distribution and habitat

The cucumber orchid usually grows on Casuarina cunninghamiana trees but sometimes also on other species of tree and on rocks. It occurs between Jimna in Queensland and Picton in New South Wales, also as far inland as Armidale and the Blue Mountains. [2] [3]

Related Research Articles

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<i>Dendrobium teretifolium</i> Species of orchid

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<i>Dendrobium antennatum</i> Species of orchid

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<i>Dendrobium bigibbum</i> Species of orchid from Australia and New Guinea

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<i>Dendrobium discolor</i> Species of orchid

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<i>Dendrobium gracilicaule</i> Species of orchid

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<i>Dendrobium jonesii</i> Species of orchid

Dendrobium jonesii, commonly known as the oak orchid is a species of epiphytic or lithophytic orchid endemic to far north Queensland. It has spindle-shaped pseudobulbs, up to seven thin, dark green leaves and up to thirty five crowded, star-like, fragrant cream-coloured or white flowers with purple markings on the labellum.

<i>Dendrobium tetragonum</i> Species of orchid

Dendrobium tetragonum, commonly known as the tree spider orchid, is a variable species of epiphytic or lithophytic orchid endemic to eastern Australia. Tree spider orchids are unusual in having pendulous pseudobulbs that are thin and wiry near the base then expand into a fleshy, four-sided upper section before tapering at the tip. There are only a few thin but leathery leaves at the end of the pseudobulbs and up to five flowers on relatively short flowering stems. To allow for the variations in the species there are five subspecies and a variety, some with a unique common name.

<i>Dendrobium falcorostrum</i> Species of orchid

Dendrobium falcorostrum, commonly known as the beech orchid, is a species of epiphytic orchid endemic to eastern Australia. It has spindle-shaped pseudobulbs, each with between two and five leathery leaves and up to twenty crowded white flowers with purple markings on the labellum.

<i>Dendrobium pugioniforme</i> Species of orchid

Dendrobium pugioniforme, commonly known as the dagger orchid is a species of orchid endemic to eastern Australia. It is an epiphytic or lithophytic orchid with pendulous, wiry stems, fleshy, sharply pointed leaves and flowering stems with one or two greenish or yellowish flowers with a white labellum. It grows on trees and rocks, mostly in humid forest.

<i>Dendrobium baileyi</i>

Dendrobium baileyi, commonly known as the blotched gemini orchid, is an epiphytic or lithophytic orchid in the family Orchidaceae and has arching stems and flowering stems with one or two spidery, yellow flowers with dark purple spots emerging from leaf axis. It grows in tropical North Queensland, New Guinea and the Solomon Islands.

<i>Dendrobium schoeninum</i>

Dendrobium schoeninum, commonly known as the common pencil orchid, is an epiphytic or sometimes a lithophytic orchid in the family Orchidaceae and has thin wiry, upright or pendent stems with fleshy, grooved, dark green leaves. Its short flowering stems have one or two, rarely up to four pale green, cream-coloured or mauve flowers with purple markings on the labellum. It grows on rainforest margins in coastal New South Wales and southern Queensland.

<i>Dendrobium bowmanii</i>

Dendrobium bowmanii, commonly known as the straggly pencil orchid, is an epiphytic or lithophytic orchid in the family Orchidaceae. It has thin wiry, straggly stems with a small number of small leaves and up to four greenish or brownish flowers with a conspicuous white labellum. It grows in drier rainforests and coastal scrub in New South Wales, southern Queensland and New Caledonia.

<i>Dendrobium canaliculatum</i>

Dendrobium canaliculatum, commonly known as the brown tea tree orchid or thin tea tree orchid, is an epiphytic or lithophytic orchid in the family Orchidaceae. It has cone-shaped or onion-shaped pseudobulbs, up to six deeply channelled, dark green leaves and up to thirty star-shaped, light brown to caramel-coloured white or greenish to apricot-coloured flowers with darker tips. It grows in tropical North Queensland and New Guinea.

Dendrobium affine, commonly known as the white butterfly orchid, malakmalak or matngala in Australian Aboriginal languages is an epiphytic orchid in the family Orchidaceae. It has cylindrical pseudobulbs, each with up to ten leaves and flowering stems with up to twenty white flowers with yellow or purple markings on the labellum. It occurs in northern Australia, New Guinea and Timor, where it grows on the bark of trees.

Dendrobium mortii, commonly known as the slender pencil orchid, is a species of orchid that is endemic to eastern Australia. It is an epiphyte with hanging stems and leaves and flowering stems with up to three pale green to dark green flowers. The flowers have a white labellum with purple markings. It usually grows near the tops of rainforest trees that are often shrouded in mist.

<i>Dendrobium nindii</i> Species of orchid

Dendrobium nindii, commonly known as the blue antler orchid, is an epiphytic or lithophytic orchid in the family Orchidaceae. It has erect, cylindrical, leafy pseudobulbs with leathery, dark green leaves and up to twenty mauve or violet flowers with darker veins on the labellum. This antler orchid occurs in tropical North Queensland and New Guinea.

<i>Dendrobium racemosum</i> Species of orchid

Dendrobium racemosum, commonly known as the erect pencil orchid, is a species of orchid endemic to tropical North Queensland. It is an epiphytic or lithophytic orchid with yellowish stems, cylindrical dark green leaves and flowering stems with between eight and fifteen cream-coloured to pale yellow flowers with a thread-like tip on the labellum. It grows on trees and rocks in exposed positions in highland areas and in the tops of rainforest trees at lower altitudes.

Dendrobium clementsii, commonly known as the Cape York crimp orchid, is a species of epiphytic or lithophytic orchid that is endemic to tropical North Queensland, Australia. It has long stems, tapering pseudobulbs each with a thin, leathery dark green leaf and clusters of short-lived, cream-coloured flowers with a purple labellum.

References

  1. 1 2 "Dendrobium cucumerinum". World Checklist of Selected Plant Families (WCSP). Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
  2. 1 2 3 Jones, David L. (2006). A complete guide to native orchids of Australia including the island territories. Frenchs Forest, N.S.W.: New Holland. p. 389. ISBN   1877069124.
  3. 1 2 3 Weston, Peter H. "Dendrobium cucumerinum". Royal Botanic Garden Sydney. Retrieved 20 November 2018.
  4. "Dendrobium cucumerinum". National Parks Board, Singapore. Retrieved 20 November 2018.
  5. "Dendrobium cucumerinum". APNI. Retrieved 20 November 2018.
  6. Woolls, William (1867). A contribution to the flora of Australia. Sydney: F. White. p. 18.
  7. Lindley, John (1842). "Miscellaneous matter of the Botanical Register 1842". Edwards's Botanical Register. 28: 58–59. Retrieved 20 November 2018.
  8. Brown, Roland Wilbur (1956). The Composition of Scientific Words. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press. p. 518.
  9. Woolls, William (1867). A Contribution to the Flora of Australia. Sydney: F.White. p. 18. Retrieved 21 November 2018.