Australian Native Plants

  Cymbidium canaliculatum (Black Orchid)


Cymbidium canaliculatum photo
Cymbidium Canaliculatum in flower near Manilla, New South Wales, Australia

Photograph by Louis Milkovits. Some rights reserved.    (view image details)

Cymbidium canaliculatum photo
Cymbidium canaliculatum habit

Photograph by Mark Marathon. Some rights reserved.    (view image details)

Cymbidium canaliculatum photo
Cymbidium Canaliculatum in flower and bearing seed pods from the previous years flowering

Photograph by Louis Milkovits. Some rights reserved.    (view image details)




BLACK ORCHID FACTS

distribution map showing range of Cymbidium canaliculatum in Australia

Map is from The Atlas of Living Australia web site, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Australia License


Common Name
Black Orchid

Other Names
Tiger Orchid, Banana Orchid, Queensland Black Orchid, Channel Leaf Orchid, Channelled Boat-Lip Orchid, Tiger Boat-Lip Orchid, Small Groove-leafed Cymbidium.

Description
The Black Orchid or Channel Leaf Orchid is a large epiphytic orchid from warm parts of Australia. Flowers are produced in large clusters or racemes that grow to about 40 cm long. Individual flowers are star shaped and about 4 cm across. The flower is variable from pale to with reddish brown spots to almost black. The labellum is usually pale with reddish brown markings. The long narrow leaves are channelled and grow to about 60 cm long. The pseudobulbs are about 10 cm long and greenish or grey green, with about two to six leaves growing from each pseudobulb..

Habitat
The Black Orchid is found in forest and woodland where it grows as an epiphyte in trees where it grows in tree forks or hollows

Distribution
Cymbidium canaliculatum is found in tropical and subtropical Australia from north east New South Wales, Queensland (except dry south west), Northern Territory and northern parts of Western Australia.

Growth Characteristics
Height: 40cm


Classification
Class:Liliopsida
Order:Asparagales
Family:Orchidaceae
Genus:Cymbidium
Species:canaliculatum
Common Name:Black Orchid


Relatives in same Genus
  Cymbidium madidum
  Cymbidium suave