Bryobium dischorense, commonly known as the spotted urchin orchid,[1] is an epiphytic or lithophytic clump-forming orchid that has fleshy, oval pseudobulbs, each with a single thin leaf and between four and eight cup-shaped, cream-coloured or whitish flowers with red spots. This orchid occurs in New Guinea and Queensland.
Bryobium dischorense is an epiphytic or lithophytic herb that forms dense clumps with oval shaped pseudobulbs NaNmm long and NaNmm wide covered with papery brown bracts when young. Each pseudobulb has a thin, but tough narrow oblong to egg-shaped leaf NaNmm long and NaNmm wide. Between four and eight cream-coloured or whitish, cup-shaped flowers with a few red spots, NaNmm long and NaNmm wide are arranged on a flowering stem NaNmm long. The dorsal sepal is NaNmm long and about 3mm wide, the lateral sepals a similar length but NaNmm wide. The petals are NaNmm long and about 2mm wide. The labellum is erect and curved, about 6mm long and 5mm wide with three lobes. The side lobes are large and erect and the middle lobe is short and turns downwards. Flowering occurs from October to December.[2] [3]
The spotted urchin orchid was first formally described in 1912 by Rudolf Schlechter who gave it the name Eria dischorensis and published the description in Repertorium Specierum Novarum Regni Vegetabilis Beihefte.[4] [5] In 2002 Mark Clements and David Jones changed the name to Bryobium dischorense.[6] The specific epithet (dischorense) refers to the type location, which Schlechter referred to as the Dischore Range, now known as the Bowutu Range.[7] The ending -ense being a Latin suffix meaning "denoting place", "locality" or "country".[8]
Bryobium dischorense usually grows on rainforest trees. It is found in New Guinea and in the Whitfield Range in Queensland.