~Dendrobium prenticei [F. Mueller]Nichols 1938 - See Dockrillia lichenastrum (F.Muell.) Brieger 1981 Photo courtesy of Dale and Deni Borders
Plant and flowers Photo courtesy of Tony Watkinson and the Western Australia Orchid Society
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Common Name Prentice's Dendrobium [Austrlian Botanist 1800's] - In Australia 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.
This species and D lichenastrum are very similar if not conspecific and if so then D lichenastrum takes precedence
Synonyms
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Orchid Species Culture; Dendrobium Bakers 1996 as Dendrobium lichenastrum; Orchid Species Culture; Dendrobium Bakers 1996 as Dendrobium prenticei; Dendrobium and its Relatives Lavarack, Harris and Stocker 2000 as Dendrobium prenticei photo fide; The Dendrobiums H. P. Wood 2006 photo fide; Native Orchids of Australia Jones 2006 as Davejonesia aurantiacopurpurea photo fide; Native Orchids of Australia Jones 2006 as Davejonesia prenticei photo fide
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