Oberonia titania, commonly known as the soldier's crest orchid[1] or red-flowered king of the fairies,[2] is a plant in the orchid family and is a clump-forming epiphyte. It has between four and ten leaves in a fan-like arrangement on each shoot and up to 350 tiny pinkish to red flowers arranged in whorls around the flowering stem. It is found in Java, New Caledonia and eastern Australia including Norfolk Island.
Oberonia titania is an epiphytic, clump-forming herb. Each shoot has between four and ten fleshy, lance-shaped to egg-shaped, green or greyish leaves NaNsigfig=2NaNsigfig=2 long and NaNsigfig=2NaNsigfig=2 wide with their bases overlapping. Between 50 and 350 pinkish to red flowers about 1.2sigfig=2NaNsigfig=2 long and 1sigfig=2NaNsigfig=2 wide are arranged in whorls of between six and eight on an arching to hanging flowering stem NaNsigfig=2NaNsigfig=2 long. The sepals and petals are egg-shaped, spread widely apart from each other and about 0.9sigfig=2NaNsigfig=2 long. The labellum is cup shaped, about 1sigfig=2NaNsigfig=2 long and 0.6sigfig=2NaNsigfig=2 wide with three lobes. Flowering occurs between January and June.[3]
Oberonia titania was first formally described in 1859 by John Lindley who published the description in Folia Orchidaceae.[4] [5]
The soldier's crest orchid grows on trees in rainforest and moist gullies in Java, New Caledonia, New South Wales including Norfolk Island and in Queensland.[6]
This orchid is classed as "vulnerable" under the New South Wales Government Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016. The main threats to the species are habitat degradation and loss, and illegal collecting.