Oberonia rimachila, commonly known as the channelled fairy orchid,[1] 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.
Oberonia rimachila is an epiphytic or lithophytic, clump forming herb with between five and seven fleshy, sword-shaped, green to reddish leaves NaNsigfig=2NaNsigfig=2 long and NaNsigfig=2NaNsigfig=2 wide with their bases overlapping. A large number of pinkish or translucent, non-resupinate flowers about 1.6sigfig=2NaNsigfig=2 long and 1.4sigfig=2NaNsigfig=2 wide are arranged in whorls of between eight and ten on an arching or hanging flowering stem NaNsigfig=2NaNsigfig=2 long. The sepals and petals are elliptic to egg-shaped, about 0.8sigfig=2NaNsigfig=2 long and 0.6sigfig=2NaNsigfig=2 wide. The labellum is about 1sigfig=2NaNsigfig=2 long and wide with three lobes. Flowering occurs between February and June.[2] [3]
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.[4] The specific epithet (rimachila) is derived from the Latin word rima meaning "cleft" or "fissure"[5] and the Ancient Greek word cheilos meaning "lip" or "rim", referring to the shape of the pit on the labellum.
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.