Dendrobium prenticei [F. Mueller]Nichols 1938 SECTION Rhizobium Photo courtesy of Dale and Deni Borders
Plant and flowers Photo courtesy of Tony Watkinson and the Western Australia Orchid Society
to
LATE
to EARLY
Common Name Prentice's Dendrobium [Austrlian Botanist 1800's] - Angular Button Orchid - The Cylindrical Button Orchid
Flower Size 1/4" to 1/2" [.6 to 1.25 cm]
Strongly related to or conspecific with D. lichenastrum [F.Mueller]Krzl. this miniature, epiphytic species is from NE Australia and is found at sealevel to 1200 meters on the outer branches of rainforest canopy where they recieve high light and markedly less water and fertilizer for 4 to 5 months in the winter with small stems carrying a single, highly variable, oval, terete, cylindrical, prostrate or erect leaf. The bloom season is in late winter and early spring and it has only a single, musky smelling bloom per short, axillary inflorescence that arise from near a leaf or directly from the rhizome.
Synonyms Bulbophyllum lichenastrum Fitz. 1869; *Bulbophyllum prenticei F. Mueller 1881; Davejonesia aurantiacopurpurea ( Nicholls ) M.A.Clem. 2002; Davejonesia prenticei ( F.Muell. ) M.A.Clem. 2002; Dendrobium aurantiaco-purpureum Nichols 1942; Dendrobium lichenastrum var prenticei [F. Meuller] Dockr. 1965; Dendrobium lichenastrum var prenticei [F. Meuller] Dockr. form aurantiaco-purpureum [Nichols] Dockr. 1956; Dendrobium variabile Nicholls 1938; Phyllorchis prenticei (F. Muell.) Kuntze 1891
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Orchid Species Culture; Dendrobium Bakers 1996; The Dendrobiums H. P. Wood 2006; Native Orchids of Australia Jones 2006 as Davejonesia aurantiacopurpurea; Native Orchids of Australia Jones 2006 as Davejonesia prenticei
