All terete leaved Dendrobium

Dendrobium

Dendrobium is a huge genus of orchids. It was established by Olof Swartz in 1799 and today contains about 1,200 species. The genus occurs in diverse habitats throughout much of south, east and southeast Asia, including the Philippines, Borneo, Australia, New Guinea, Solomon Islands and New Zealand...

species

Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...

 from Australia and Papua New Guinea

Papua New Guinea

Papua New Guinea , officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is a country in Oceania, occupying the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and numerous offshore islands...

 have been moved into a newly created genus

Genus

In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

, Dockrillia, named after Alick Dockrill, a contemporary Australian orchidologist. Dockrillia are ephiphytic

Epiphyte

An epiphyte is a plant that grows upon another plant non-parasitically or sometimes upon some other object , derives its moisture and nutrients from the air and rain and sometimes from debris accumulating around it, and is found in the temperate zone and in the...

 or lithophytic plants, and found mainly along the east coast of Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

.

"The genus was recently reinstated as distinct from Dendrobium based on absence of pseudobulbs, single fleshy leaf terminal on a short stem, multiflowered inflorescence arising from near the base of a leaf and flowers with a 3-lobed labellum

Labellum

Labellum is the Latin diminutive of labium, meaning lip. These are anatomical terms used descriptively in biology, for example in Entomology and botany.-Botany:...

. POLL. By Native bees."

"Although the name Dockrillia was established as far back as 1981, it is only in recent years that the name has been resurrected. The genus Dockrillia has been split off from Dendrobium and comprises the "terete-leaved" group of "dendrobes". This revision has been generally accepted in Australia. Species in Dockrillia are characterised by succulent leaves which are rounded in cross-section (terete) and which arise from a creeping rhizome. Currently about 28 species are recognised. Dockrillia is named after Alick Dockrill."

There are about 29 species, 17 in Australia, with the others in Timor

Timor

Timor is an island at the southern end of Maritime Southeast Asia, north of the Timor Sea. It is divided between the independent state of East Timor, and West Timor, belonging to the Indonesian province of East Nusa Tenggara. The island's surface is 30,777 square kilometres...

, New Guinea

New Guinea

New Guinea is the world's second largest island, after Greenland, covering a land area of 786,000 km2. Located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, it lies geographically to the east of the Malay Archipelago, with which it is sometimes included as part of a greater Indo-Australian Archipelago...

, New Caledonia

New Caledonia

New Caledonia is a special collectivity of France located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, east of Australia and about from Metropolitan France. The archipelago, part of the Melanesia subregion, includes the main island of Grande Terre, the Loyalty Islands, the Belep archipelago, the Isle of...

, Vanuatu

Vanuatu

Vanuatu , officially the Republic of Vanuatu , is an island nation located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is some east of northern Australia, northeast of New Caledonia, west of Fiji, and southeast of the Solomon Islands, near New Guinea.Vanuatu was...

, Fiji

Fiji

Fiji , officially the Republic of Fiji , is an island nation in Melanesia in the South Pacific Ocean about northeast of New Zealand's North Island...

, Samoa

Samoa

Samoa , officially the Independent State of Samoa, formerly known as Western Samoa is a country encompassing the western part of the Samoan Islands in the South Pacific Ocean. It became independent from New Zealand in 1962. The two main islands of Samoa are Upolu and one of the biggest islands in...

 and Tahiti

Tahiti

Tahiti is the largest island in the Windward group of French Polynesia, located in the archipelago of the Society Islands in the southern Pacific Ocean. It is the economic, cultural and political centre of French Polynesia. The island was formed from volcanic activity and is high and mountainous...

.

Dockrillia crosses readily with Dendrobium

Dendrobium

Dendrobium is a huge genus of orchids. It was established by Olof Swartz in 1799 and today contains about 1,200 species. The genus occurs in diverse habitats throughout much of south, east and southeast Asia, including the Philippines, Borneo, Australia, New Guinea, Solomon Islands and New Zealand...

to make Dockrilobium.

Most Dockrillia plants are easily propagated

Plant propagation

Plant propagation is the process of creating new plants from a variety of sources: seeds, cuttings, bulbs and other plant parts. Plant propagation can also refer to the artificial or natural dispersal of plants.-Sexual propagation :...

 by rhizome

Rhizome

In botany and dendrology, a rhizome is a characteristically horizontal stem of a plant that is usually found underground, often sending out roots and shoots from its nodes...

 division.

Selected species

Dockrillia wassellii

Dockrillia wassellii

Dockrillia wassellii or the Furrowed Pencil Orchid , is found only in the Iron Range and McIlwraith Range on Cape York Peninsula, Australia, at 100-400 metres altitude...

, the Furrowed Pencil Orchid.

Dockrillia cucumerina, the cucumber orchid has leaves shaped like little cucumbers.

Dockrillia linguiformis

Dockrillia linguiformis

Dockrillia linguiforme, the Button Orchid or Tongue Orchid is a common small orchid, growing north from Ulladulla in south eastern New South Wales, Australia. It was originally described as Dendrobium linguiforme by Swedish botanist Olof Swartz in 1800, and commonly known by this name for many...

the tongue orchid - from Latin: lingua which means 'tongue', and formis which means 'shaped'. The thick and leathery leaves grow from a creeping rhizone, either as an epiphyte

Epiphyte

An epiphyte is a plant that grows upon another plant non-parasitically or sometimes upon some other object , derives its moisture and nutrients from the air and rain and sometimes from debris accumulating around it, and is found in the temperate zone and in the...

 or as a lithophyte

Lithophyte

Lithophytes are a type of plant that grows in or on rocks. Lithophytes feed off moss, nutrients in rain water, litter, and even their own dead tissue....

.

Dockrillia pugioniformis, the dagger orchid, from the shape of its leaves. Plants can grow to very large specimens, often completely covering a large branch of a large tree.

Dockrillia teretifolia

Dockrillia teretifolia

Dockrillia teretifolia is a synonym of Dendrobium teretifolium, the Thin Pencil Orchid, Rat's Tail Orchid or Bridal Veil Orchid is found in Queensland and NSW ; 500-800 metres altitude. It flowers from July to August.D...

, the pencil orchid, from the shape of its leaves. It has a pendulous growth and is sometimes known as the bridal veil orchid.