Australian Native Plants

  Dockrillia cucumerina (Cucumber Orchid)


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

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




CUCUMBER ORCHID FACTS

distribution map showing range of Dockrillia cucumerina in Australia

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


Common Name
Cucumber Orchid

Other Names
Dendrobium cucumerinum

Description
The Cucumber Orchid grows as a creeping epiphyte or lithophyte from eastern Australia. The flowers are cream or pale green with reddish stripes, and a white labellum or lip which has reddish markings. Flowering is in spring and summer. The leaves are bright green and cylindrical or cucumber shaped with surface covered in bumps. The leaves grow to about 3 cm long and about 1 cm in diameter. These odd looking leaves are a distinguishing feature of this orchid species. The plant has a rhizome that spreads on the surface of the tree or rock on which it grows.

Habitat
found din open forest, wooded river banks

Distribution
Dockrillia cucumerina is found in eastern Queensland and eastern New South Wales,

Growth Characteristics
Height: prostrate
Classification
Class:Liliopsida
Order:Asparagales
Family:Orchidaceae
Genus:Dockrillia
Species:cucumerina
Common Name:Cucumber Orchid


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