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Orchidaceae
Cooktown Orchid
Dendrobium bigibbum
charm and refinement.
- Family
- Orchidaceae
- Genus
- Dendrobium
- Native to
- Australia (far north Queensland, Cape York Peninsula)
- Bloom season
- Summer, Autumn
- Type
- perennial herb
- Height
- 1-2 ft
- Sunlight
- bright indirect light
- Soil
- orchid bark, coarse and well-drained
- Water
- moderate
- Hardiness
- 11-12
- Lifespan
- perennial
Did you know
- The Cooktown Orchid is the floral emblem of Queensland, officially adopted in 1959.
- It grows as an epiphyte on tree branches and rock faces in tropical rainforests near Cooktown and Iron Range.
- Named after Cooktown, the north Queensland town where Captain Cook beached HMS Endeavour for repairs in 1770.
- It can survive months of drought by storing water in its swollen pseudobulbs, then bloom prolifically when the wet season returns.
- Recent molecular studies reclassified this species as Vappodes phalaenopsis, though the older Dendrobium name remains widely used in horticulture.
Color meanings
0
charm
1
refinement
2
rare beauty