Dipodium punctatum

Dipodium punctatum is a leafless, tuberous, perennial, mycoheterotrophic herb. Between five and sixty pale to bright pink flowers with heavy red blotches and {{convert|20-25|mm|in|sigfig=1|abbr=on}} wide are borne on a green to blackish, hyacinth-like flowering stem {{convert|40-100|cm|in|sigfig=1|abbr=on}} tall. The sepals and petals are linear to elliptic or lance-shaped, {{convert|10-20|mm|in|sigfig=1|abbr=on}} long, {{convert|2.5-5|mm|in|sigfig=1|abbr=on}} wide and free from each other with their tips sometimes slightly curved backwards. The labellum is {{convert|12-16|mm|in|sigfig=1|abbr=on}} long, {{convert|5-6|mm|in|sigfig=2|abbr=on}} wide and has three lobes. The centre lobe has a band of pink to mauve hairs, the band narrow near the base but widening towards the tip of the lobe. Flowering occurs from November to March.{{cite web |last1=Weston |first1=Peter H. |title=Dipodium punctatum |url=http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Dipodium~punctatum |publisher=Royal Botanic Garden Sydney |accessdate=13 July 2018}}{{cite web |last1=Jeanes |first1=Jeff |title=Dipodium punctatum |url=https://vicflora.rbg.vic.gov.au/flora/taxon/af91dbff-3f09-40f6-a026-29d28ed65eea |publisher=Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria |accessdate=13 July 2018}}

This orchid is often confused with D. roseum but has a narrower band of labellum hairs, darker blotches and less recurved sepals and petals.

This orchid was first formally described in 1804 by English botanist James Edward Smith in the journal Exotic Botany. Smith gave it the name Dendrobium punctatum.{{cite web|title=Dendrobium punctatum|url= https://id.biodiversity.org.au/instance/apni/505609|publisher=APNI|accessdate=13 July 2018}} In 1810, Scottish botanist Robert Brown placed the species in his newly described genus Dipodium, publishing the change in Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae et Insulae Van Diemen.{{cite book |last1=Brown |first1=Robert |title=Prodromus florae Novae Hollandiae et Insulae Van-Dieman |date=1810 |location=London |page=331 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/21771#page/201/mode/1up |accessdate=13 July 2018}} The specific epithet (punctatum) is derived from the Latin word punctum meaning "little hole", "dot" or "point".{{cite book|last1=Brown|first1=Roland Wilbur|title=The Composition of Scientific Words|date=1956|publisher=Smithsonian Institution Press|location=Washington, D.C.|page=742}}

The World Checklist of Selected Plant Families (WCSP) records this species as a synonym of Dipodium squamatum.{{WCSP | 62618 | Dipodium punctatum }}

The blotched hyacinth orchid is common in woodland and forest along the coast and ranges of New South Wales, the Australian Capital Territory and Queensland. It is also widespread in Victoria especially in the east of the state. There are a few records of the species from the far south-east corner of South Australia.{{cite web |title=Dipodium punctatum |url=http://www.flora.sa.gov.au/cgi-bin/speciesfacts_display.cgi?form=speciesfacts&family=&genus=Dipodium&species=punctatum&iname=&submit=Display |publisher=State Herbarium of South Australia |accessdate=13 July 2018}}

Dipodium punctatum does not occur in Tasmania. Plants in that state previously classified as D. punctatum are currently referred to D. roseum, which was described in 1991.{{cite web|author1=Baker M.L. |author2=de Salas, M.F. |title=A Census of The Vascular Plants of Tasmania - 2012 edition|publisher=Tasmanian Herbarium, Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Department of Economic Development, Tourism and the Arts|url=http://www.tmag.tas.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/66797/2012_Census_of_Tasmanian_Vascular_Plants.pdf}}{{cite journal |last1=Jones |first1=David L. |title=Contributions to Tasmanian Orchidology |journal=Australian Orchid Research |date=1998 |volume=3 |page=206}}

In South Australia, D. punctatum is listed as endangered. Populations currently included within D. roseum and D. campanulatum were originally part of a wider circumscription of D. punctatum in South Australia.{{Cite web|title=Census of South Australian Vascular Plants Edition 5.00|publisher=Botanic Gardens of Adelaide & State Herbarium|year=2005|page=197|url=http://www.flora.sa.gov.au/pdfs/Census_5.0_web.pdf}}

{{Reflist}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20080111013117/http://www.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/science/hot_science_topics/Ecology_of_Cumberland_Plain_Woodland/woodland_plants/dipodium_punctatum Dipodium punctatum] Ecology of Cumberland Plain Woodland, Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20050430234036/http://www.abc.net.au/newengland/stories/s1276677.htm Dipodium punctatum] ABC

• {{Commons-inline|italic=1}}
• [http://linnean-online.org/47096/ Herbarium specimen of Dendrobium punctatum (The Linnean Society of London)]
• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMXdkBOfP00/ Youtube video of D. punctatum]

{{Taxonbar|from=Q5280025}}

Category:Orchids of New South Wales

Category:Orchids of the Australian Capital Territory

Category:Orchids of Queensland

Category:Orchids of South Australia

Category:Orchids of Victoria (state)

Category:Endemic orchids of Australia

punctatum

Category:Plants described in 1804