Bulbophyllum weinthalii, commonly known as the wax orchid,[1] is a species of epiphytic orchid that forms dense clumps on hoop pine (Araucaria cunninghamii). It has crowded pseudobulbs each with a single thin, leathery, dark green leaf and a single white, green or cream-coloured flower with red or purplish markings. It occurs from south-eastern Queensland to Dorrigo National Park in New South Wales.
Bulbophyllum weinthalii is an epiphytic herb that forms dense clumps with crowded pseudobulbs NaNmm long, NaNmm wide and covered with a white sheath. Each pseudobulb has a thin, leathery, dark green, narrow elliptic to egg-shaped leaf NaNmm long and NaNmm wide. There is a single white, green or cream-coloured flower with red or purplish markings, NaNmm long and NaNmm wide. The sepals and petals are thick, fleshy and waxy. The dorsal sepal is oblong to egg-shaped, NaNmm long and NaNmm wide. The lateral sepals are triangular, NaNmm long, NaNmm wide and spread widely apart from each other. The petals are NaNmm long, NaNmm and curve inwards. The labellum is about 8mm long, 5mm wide, thick and fleshy and curved with a groove along its midline. Flowering occurs from March to May.[2]
Bulbophyllum weinthalii was first formally described in 1933 by Richard Sanders Rogers and the description was published in Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of South Australia from a specimen collected by "Mr. F.A. Weinthal". The specific epithet (weinthalii) honours the collector of the type specimen.[3] [4]
There are two subspecies:
The wax orchid grows on the scaly bark on the upper branches of hoop pine in rainforest between the Kroombit Tops National Park in Queensland and the Dorrigo National Park in New South Wales. Subspecies striatum only occurs in the extreme north of the distribution.