Dendrobium glabrum, commonly known as the creeping star orchid,[1] is a species of epiphytic orchid native to New Guinea and Australia. It has shiny pseudobulbs with a single leathery leaf and white, star-shaped flowers with yellow tips. It forms large clumps on trees in humid forests.
Dendrobium glabrum is an epiphytic herb that has shiny, yellowish green pseudobulbs NaNsigfig=2NaNsigfig=2 long and NaNsigfig=2NaNsigfig=2 wide. There is a single leathery leaf NaNsigfig=2NaNsigfig=2 long and NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 wide with a papery bract at its base. Short-lived, star-shaped white flowers with yellowish tips NaNsigfig=2NaNsigfig=2 long and wide are produced in leaf axils on a thin stalk about 30sigfig=2NaNsigfig=2 long. The sepals are NaNsigfig=2NaNsigfig=2 long and about 2sigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 wide, the petals slightly longer but only half as wide. The labellum is about 8sigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 long and 3sigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 wide with wavy edges near its base and two ridges along its midline. Flowering occurs sporadically and the flowers only last a few hours.[2] [3]
Dendrobium glabrum was first formally described in 1907 by Johannes Jacobus Smith and the description was published in Bulletin du Département de l'Agriculture aux Indes Néerlandaises.[4] [5] The specific epithet (glabrum) is a Latin word meaning "smooth".[6]
The creeping star orchid grows on trees in humid forest in New Guinea and on the Cape York Peninsula as far south as Cairns.