Oberonia rimachila

Oberonia rimachila, commonly known as the channelled fairy orchid,[2] is a plant in the orchid family and is a clump-forming epiphyte or lithophyte. It has between five and seven leaves in a fan-like arrangement on each shoot and a large number of pinkish flowers arranged in whorls of between eight and ten around the flowering stem. It is endemic to Queensland.

Channelled fairy orchid
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Order: Asparagales
Family: Orchidaceae
Subfamily: Epidendroideae
Genus: Oberonia
Species:
O. rimachila
Binomial name
Oberonia rimachila

Description

Oberonia rimachila is an epiphytic or lithophytic, clump forming herb with between five and seven fleshy, sword-shaped, green to reddish leaves 50–70 mm (2.0–2.8 in) long and 5–8 mm (0.20–0.31 in) wide with their bases overlapping. A large number of pinkish or translucent, non-resupinate flowers about 1.6 mm (0.063 in) long and 1.4 mm (0.055 in) wide are arranged in whorls of between eight and ten on an arching or hanging flowering stem 50–140 mm (2.0–5.5 in) long. The sepals and petals are elliptic to egg-shaped, about 0.8 mm (0.031 in) long and 0.6 mm (0.024 in) wide. The labellum is about 1.0 mm (0.039 in) long and wide with three lobes. Flowering occurs between February and June.[2][3][4]

Taxonomy and naming

Oberonia rimachila was first formally described in 2006 by David Jones and Mark Clements who published the description in Australian Orchid Research. The type specimen was collected from Mount Tozer in the Iron Range National Park.[5] The specific epithet (rimachila) is derived from the Latin word rima meaning "cleft" or "fissure"[6]:164 and the Ancient Greek word cheilos meaning "lip" or "rim",[6]:486 referring to the shape of the pit on the labellum.[4]

Distribution and habitat

The channelled fairy orchid usually grows on trees and rocks in rainforest, sometimes in other humid, sheltered places such as mangroves and coastal scrub. It is found between the Iron Range and Palmerston in Queensland.[2][3][4]

References
  1. "Oberonia rimachila". World Checklist of Selected Plant Families (WCSP). Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
  2. Jones, David L. (2006). A complete guide to native orchids of Australia including the island territories. Frenchs Forest, N.S.W.: New Holland. pp. 470–471. ISBN 1877069124.
  3. "Oberonia rimachila". Trin keys: Australian Tropical Rainforest Orchids. Retrieved 16 January 2019.
  4. Jones, David L.; Clements, Mark A. (2006). "Fourteen new taxa of Orchidaceae from Northern and Eastern Australia and two new combinations from new Guinea". Australian Orchid Research. 5 (1): 11.
  5. "Oberonia rimachila". APNI. Retrieved 16 January 2019.
  6. Brown, Roland Wilbur (1956). The Composition of Scientific Words. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press.
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