Australian Native Plants

  Dockrillia schoenina (Common Pencil Orchid)


Dockrillia schoenina photo
Royal Botanic Gardens, Cranbourne (Melbourne, Australia)

Photograph by Raffi Kojian Gardenology.org. Some rights reserved.    (view image details)




PLANT FACTS

distribution map showing range of Dockrillia schoenina in Australia

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


Common Name
Common Pencil Orchid

Other Names
Dendrobium schoeninum

Description
The Common Pencil Orchid is an epiphytic or lithophytic orchid. It produces cluster of up to four flowers, with each flower about 4 cm across. The lateral petals and sepals are cream or pale green with dark purple striping near the base. The labellum is cream, pale green or lilac with some purple marks. Flowering is in spring from September to November. The fleshy leaves are long and cylindrical and grow up to about 16 cm long and about 1 cm in diameter and have grooves along them. The plane plant grows from a creeping wiry rhizome.

Habitat
grows high in trees or on rocks or cliffs in rainforest margins, riverside woodland and swampland.

Distribution
Dockrillia schoenina is found in south east Queensland and eastern New South Wales.

Growth Characteristics
Height: 15cm
Classification
Class:Liliopsida
Order:Asparagales
Family:Orchidaceae
Genus:Dockrillia
Species:schoenina
Common Name:Common Pencil Orchid


Relatives in same Genus
  Dockrillia bowmanii
  Dockrillia cucumerina
  Dockrillia linguiformis
  Dockrillia striolata
  Dockrillia teretifolia
  Dockrillia wassellii