Dendrobium bigibbum
The Cooktown orchid, Queensland's floral emblem, is a hard-caned Dendrobium from the monsoon tropics of Cape York, the Torres Strait and southern New Guinea. It carries sprays of up to twenty lilac-purple flowers. It grows on trees and rocks in open forest, scrub and riverside vegetation, in bright light, with a hot, wet summer and a long, almost rainless dry season. It is the wild ancestor of the 'Den-phal' hybrids and needs heat, strong light and a proper dry rest.
Where it grows wild
An epiphyte or lithophyte of tropical rainforest edges, coastal scrub, riverside vegetation, swamps and open forest. It often grows on exposed branches or rocks in strong light. The tall, cane-like pseudobulbs store water for the long dry season, and the roots cling to bark or bare rock with little moss or litter.
Measured records span 4–890 m (median 297 m). Wikipedia notes the compact variety grows at about 250 m and other forms at lower elevations on Cape York.
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Profiles are drafts built from measured range and climate and from published sources; each section carries its own confidence in the app. Photo from Wikimedia Commons, used under its Public domain licence, unmodified.