''Dendrobium smillieae'', commonly known as the bottlebrush orchid, is an

epiphytic An epiphyte is a plant or plant-like organism that grows on the surface of another plant and derives its moisture and nutrients from the air, rain, water (in marine environments) or from debris accumulating around it. The plants on which epiphyt ...

or lithophytic orchid with large, spongy

pseudobulb In botany, a pseudobulb is a storage organ found in many epiphytic and terrestrial sympodial orchids. It is derived from a thickening of the part of a stem between leaf nodes and may be composed of just one internode or several, termed ''heter ...

s, thin, bright green leaves which are shed after their first year and crowded flowers in a bottlebrush-like arrangement. The flowers are white, to cream-coloured or pink and the labellum has a shiny, dark green tip. This orchid species is found in some of the

Torres Strait Islands The Torres Strait Islands are an archipelago of at least 274 small islands in the Torres Strait, a waterway separating far northern continental Australia's Cape York Peninsula and the island of New Guinea. They span an area of , but their tot ...

, and through

Cape York Peninsula The Cape York Peninsula is a peninsula located in Far North Queensland, Australia. It is the largest wilderness in northern Australia.Mittermeier, R.E. et al. (2002). Wilderness: Earth's last wild places. Mexico City: Agrupación Sierra Madre, ...

Townsville The City of Townsville is a city on the north-eastern coast of Queensland, Australia. With a population of 201,313 as of 2024, it is the largest settlement in North Queensland and Northern Australia (specifically, the parts of Australia north of ...

, Queensland. It is also found in

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; , fossilized , also known as Papua or historically ) is the List of islands by area, world's second-largest island, with an area of . Located in Melanesia in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is ...

and eastern

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

(

Sulawesi Sulawesi ( ), also known as Celebes ( ), is an island in Indonesia. One of the four Greater Sunda Islands, and the List of islands by area, world's 11th-largest island, it is situated east of Borneo, west of the Maluku Islands, and south of Min ...

and Maluku).

Description

''Dendrobium smillieae'' is an epiphytic or lithophytic

herb Herbs are a widely distributed and widespread group of plants, excluding vegetables, with savory or aromatic properties that are used for flavoring and garnishing food, for medicinal purposes, or for fragrances. Culinary use typically distingu ...

with crowded, ribbed, greenish or yellowish spindle-shaped pseudobulbs long and wide. The pseudobulbs have leaves during their first year, but are leafless at maturity. The leaves are bright green, thin, often twisted, long and wide. The flowers are arranged in crowded, bottlebrush-like groups long on the end of the pseudobulbs. The flowers are white, greenish, cream-coloured or pink, more or less tube-shaped and long. The

sepal A sepal () is a part of the flower of angiosperms (flowering plants). Usually green, sepals typically function as protection for the flower in bud, and often as support for the petals when in bloom., p. 106 Etymology The term ''sepalum'' ...

s and

petals Petals are modified leaves that form an inner whorl surrounding the reproductive parts of flowers. They are often brightly coloured or unusually shaped to attract pollinators. All of the petals of a flower are collectively known as the ''coroll ...

are blunt, long and do not open widely. The labellum is about long, wide with a shiny, dark green tip. Flowering occurs from August to November. A white variety is found in the

Sepik The Sepik () is the longest river on the island of New Guinea, and the third largest in Oceania by discharge volume after the Fly River, Fly and Mamberamo River, Mamberamo. The majority of the river flows through the Papua New Guinea (PNG) provi ...

swamps in

Taxonomy and naming

''Dendrobium smillieae'' was first formally described in 1867 by

Ferdinand von Mueller Baron Sir Ferdinand Jacob Heinrich von Mueller, (; 30 June 1825 – 10 October 1896) was a German-Australian physician, geographer, and most notably, a botanist. He was appointed government botanist for the then colony of Victoria, Australia ...

from a specimen collected near

Rockingham Bay Rockingham Bay is a bay in Far North Queensland, Australia. The bay opens onto the Coral Sea, part of the South Pacific Ocean. Adjacent to the bay is the Girramay National Park, south of which is the town of Cardwell. Goold Island is a small ...

John Dallachy John Dallachy (c. 1808 – 4 June 1871) was a curator of Melbourne Botanic Gardens and a plant collector. Dallachy was born in Elginshire, Scotland. He worked as a gardener for the Earl of Aberdeen and Kew Gardens. In 1847, he went to Ceylon t ...

. The description was published in ''

Fragmenta phytographiae Australiae ''Fragmenta phytographiae Australiae'' is a series of papers written by the Victorian Government botanist Ferdinand von Mueller in which he published many of his approximately 2000 descriptions of new taxa of Australian plants. Including the p ...

''. The

specific epithet In Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin gramm ...

(''smillieae'') honours E.J. Smillie.

Distribution and habitat

The bottlebrush orchid is widespread and common, growing on trees and sometimes on rocks, in woodland, forest and rainforest margins. It prefers trees which are exposed to sunlight and commonly grows on trees such as '' Lophostemon suaveolens'' (swamp turpentine or swamp box) which have loose papery bark. The roots of the orchid penetrate below the bark and form large mats which are well protected beneath the bark. It is found in New Guinea, including on the

Bismarck Archipelago The Bismarck Archipelago (, ) is a group of islands off the northeastern coast of New Guinea in the western Pacific Ocean and is part of the Islands Region of Papua New Guinea. Its area is about . History The first inhabitants of the archipela ...

, on the

Aru Islands Aru or ARU may refer to: Education * Alpha Rho Upsilon, a defunct fraternity in the United States * Anglia Ruskin University, a university in England * Ardhi University, a Tanzanian public university Places * Aru Islands Regency, a group of i ...

, on some

and on the

as far south as

.Beasley, John (2006). ''Plants of Tropical North Queensland the Compact Guide''. Footloose Publications. Kuranda, Qld., Australia. . pp. 57, 73.

Ecology

The flowers of this orchid produce nectar and are pollinated by the

yellow honeyeater The yellow honeyeater (''Stomiopera flava'') is a species of bird in the family Meliphagidae. It is endemic to Australia. Overview Its natural habitats are tropical and subtropical moist lowland forest and mangrove forest. The yellow honeyeat ...

(''Stomiopera flava'') also known in Queensland as the canary honeyeater. The bird hovers in front of the flowers while feeding on the nectar.

Gallery

Australian Plant Name Index.

Global Biodiversity Information Facility
{{Taxonbar, from2=Q5140588, from1=Q28816208 smillieae Epiphytic orchids Orchids of Indonesia Orchids of New Guinea Orchids of Queensland Plants described in 1867 Taxa named by Ferdinand von Mueller