Dendrobium falcorostrum, commonly known as the beech orchid,[1] is a species of epiphytic orchid endemic to eastern Australia. It has spindle-shaped pseudobulbs, each with between two and five leathery leaves and up to twenty crowded white flowers with purple markings on the labellum.
Dendrobium falcorostrum is an epiphytic herb that has crowded, yellowish green, spindle-shaped pseudobulbs NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 long and NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 wide. Each pseudobulb has between two and five narrow elliptic to lance-shaped, dark green, leathery leaves NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 long and NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 wide. The flowering stem is NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 long with between four and twenty crowded white flowers NaNsigfig=2NaNsigfig=2 long and NaNsigfig=2NaNsigfig=2 wide. The dorsal sepal is NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 long and NaNsigfig=2NaNsigfig=2 wide. The lateral sepals are NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 long, NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 wide and the petals are a similar length but narrower. The labellum is white with purple markings, about 35sigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 long and wide with three lobes. The side lobes curve upwards and the middle lobe has a Y-shaped ridge with a pointed end along its midline. Flowering occurs between August and October.[2]
Dendrobium falcorostrum was first formally described in 1876 by Robert D. FitzGerald and the description was published in The Sydney Morning Herald.[3] [4]
The beech orchid grows in highland rainforest, mainly on antarctic beech (Nothofagus moorei) between the Lamington National Park in Queensland and the Hunter River in New South Wales.