Dendrobium moorei, commonly known as the drooping cane orchid,[1] is a species of epiphytic or lithophytic orchid in the family Orchidaceae and is endemic to Lord Howe Island. It has cylindrical pseudobulbs, leathery, dark green leaves and between two and fifteen small, white drooping flowers that do not open widely.
Dendrobium moorei is an epiphytic or lithophytic orchid with cylindrical green or yellowish pseudobulbs NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 long and NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 wide. There are between two and five leaves NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 long and NaNsigfig=2NaNsigfig=2 wide. Between two and fifteen drooping white flowers with a tube-shaped base, NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 long and NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 wide are arranged on a flowering stem NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 long. The sepals and petals are pointed, thin and do not open widely. The sepals are NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 long and about 3sigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 wide, the petals shorter and narrower. The labellum is about 8sigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 long and 5sigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 wide, sometimes with faint pink markings with a triangular, crinkled middle lobe. Flowering occurs between August and May.[2] [3]
Dendrobium moorei was first formally described in 1869 by Ferdinand von Mueller from a specimen collected by Charles Moore. The description was published in Fragmenta phytographiae Australiae.[4] [5] The specific epithet (moorei) honours the collector of the type specimen.
The drooping cane orchid grows on trees and rocks in humid, sheltered forests, usually at altitudes of above 400sigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 on Lord Howe Island.