Dendrobium bigibbum [Cooktown Orchid]

Rare lithograph of Queensland’s floral emblem, the Cooktown orchid. There are four varieties, each having been previously been considered as a separate species.

From the original edition of the first monograph on Australian orchids, by Robert Fitzgerald, making it the largest colonial Australian orchid lithographs made. The series took twenty-four years to complete (1875-1894).

Dendrobium bigibbum was first formally described in 1852 by John Lindley in Paxton’s Flower Garden. There are four varieties of this species which recognised by the World Checklist of Selected Plant Families :
Dendrobium bigibbum var. bigibbum,  the mauve butterfly orchid, that has a white spot in the centre of the labellum
Dendrobium bigibbum var. compactum, (C.T.White) Peter B.Adams a lithophyte with a narrow distribution
Dendrobium bigibbum var. schoederianum (Rchb.f. ex W.Watson) Peter B.Adams that has variably coloured flowers and only grows on Larat Island in the Tanimbar group
Dendrobium bigibbum var. superbum, Rchb.f., the Cooktown orchid, that has the largest flowers in the group but which lacks the white spot in the centre of the labellum and occurs between Cooktown and Mount Molloy

Common name: Cooktown orchid.
Binomial name: Dendrobium bigibbum
First described: John Lindley, 1852
Distribution: QLD