Dendrobium brevicaudum
"Dendrobium brevicaudum", commonly known as the Mount Finnigan pencil orchid, is an epiphytic or lithophytic orchid in the family Orchidaceae and is endemic to Queensland. It has hanging stems, cylindrical leaves and groups of about six yellowish or orange-brown flowers with red streaks and a white labellum. It is only known from two mountainous areas north of Cairns. Description. "Dendrobium brevicaudum" is an epiphytic or lithophytic herb with pendulous stems and leaves. The stems are dark green to yellowish, wide and up to long. The leaves are cylindrical, dark green long and wide. Between five and eight  flowers are arranged on a flowering stem long. The flowers are yellowish, brownish or orange-brown, long and wide with red streaks along the centre. The dorsal sepal is more or less erect, elliptic to egg-shaped, long and wide. The lateral sepals are lance-shaped, curved long and about wide. The petals are linear to narrow lance-shaped, long and about wide. The labellum is whitish, long, wide, is covered with short hairs and has three lobes. The side lobes are triangular and upright and the middle lobe is very wavy with three dark red ridges along its midline . Flowering occurs from December to January. Taxonomy and naming. "Dendrobium brevicaudum" was first formally described in 1994 by David Jones and Mark Clements from a specimen collected on Mount Finnigan in the Ngalba Bulal National Park. The specific epithet ("brevicaudum") is derived from the Latin words "brevis" meaning "short" and "cauda" meaning "tail" referring to the short tip of the labellum. Distribution and habitat. The Mount Finnigan pencil orchid grows on trees and granite boulders in rainforest and cloud forest at an elevation of above about on Mount Finnigan and nearby Mount Misery.