This Conservation Advice was approved by the Minister / Delegate of the Minister on: 1/10/2008 Approved Conservation Advice (s266B of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999) Approved Conservation Advice for Dendrobium johannis
This Conservation Advice has been developed based on the best available information at the time this Conservation Advice was approved; this includes existing plans, records or management prescriptions for this species.
Description Dendrobium johannis, Family Orchidaceae, now known as Cepobaculum johannis and Chocolate Tea Tree Orchid, is an epiphytic orchid with spindle-shaped pseudobulbs that are often dark brown or purplish-brown. It carries 5–10 leaves on the upper node. Leaves grow 10–20 cm long and 12–15 mm wide, are dark-green to purplish-green and have a sheath that often has purple stripes (Jones, 2006). Flowers are chocolate brown with a bright yellow labellum (lip) and are 25–45 mm in width and 20–40 mm in height (Dockrill, 1992; Jones, 2006). The petals and sepals are thick, shiny and twisted. Flowers appear between March and July, are long-lasting and have a strong, unpleasant scent (Jones, 2006). This species has recently been transferred to the genus Cepobaculum (Clements & Jones, 2002). This name change is followed in Jones (2006) and Clements (2008). Dendrobium johannis is considered to be a synonym of Cepobaculum johannis in the Australian Plant Census (CHAH, 2008).
Conservation Status Dendrobium johannis is listed as vulnerable. This species is eligible for listing as vulnerable under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (Cwlth) (EPBC Act) as, prior to the commencement of the EPBC Act, it was listed as vulnerable under Schedule 1 of the Endangered Species Protection Act 1992 (Cwlth). The species is also listed as vulnerable (as Dendrobium johannis) under the Nature Conservation Act 1992 (Queensland).
Distribution and Habitat Dendrobium johannis occurs from the tip of Cape York Peninsula, south to the McIlwraith Range and Coen (Dockrill, 1992; Jones, 2006) in north Queensland. It also occurs in the Torres Strait islands, possibly New Guinea (Lavarack & Gray, 1985; Jones, 1988; Dockrill, 1992) and occurs on islands on the Great Barrier Reef (Stokes et al., 2004). Localities include Fishbone Creek (a tributary of Jacky Jacky Creek), Oakey Creek, Claudie River, Cowel Creek Floodplain, Silver Plains (south of Scrubby Creek and west of Colmer Point), 45 km from Cooktown, Iron Range and Hombledon in Cape York; and Hammond Island and Albany Island in Torres Strait (Queensland Herbarium, 2008). There is also a record from near Banjo Beach on Melville Island in the Northern Territory from 1966 (Queensland Herbarium, 2008); however this species is not listed on a recent list of native plants of the Northern Territory (Kerrigan & Albrecht, 2007). Dendrobium johannis is locally common and abundant in appropriate habitats (Lavarack, 1977, 1980, 1984; Jones, 2006). The species was recorded as common in the Cowal Creek floodplain, and occasional in the Silver Plains (Queensland Herbarium, 2008). The species is conserved in Iron Range National Park (NP), Jardine River NP and Rokeby–Croll NP (Briggs & Leigh, 1996). This species occurs within the Cape York and Torres Strait (Queensland) Natural Resource Management Regions. Dendrobium johannis grows in open humid habitats, on slopes in open woodland, close to swamps and in pockets of monsoon forests (Jones, 2006). It has been recorded growing on Broad-leaved Tea-tree (Melaleuca viridiflora) in a melaleuca woodland in the Cowal Creek
Dendrobium johannis Conservation Advice - Page 1 of 3 This Conservation Advice was approved by the Minister / Delegate of the Minister on: 1/10/2008 floodplain; and in a semi-evergreen vine thicket on an old stabilised sand dune where Thryptomene was dominant in the canopy (Queensland Herbarium, 2008). The distribution of this species is not known to overlap with any EPBC Act-listed threatened ecological communities.
Threats The main potential threats to D. johannis include over-collection by orchid enthusiasts and habitat degradation from settlement and visitor pressures (Coates et al., 2002; Landsberg and Clarkson, 2004).
Research Priorities Research priorities that would inform future regional and local priority actions include: • More precisely assess population size, distribution, ecological requirements and the relative impacts of threatening processes. • Undertake survey work in suitable habitat and potential habitat to locate any additional populations/occurrences/remnants. • Investigate the potential and efficacy of DNA-based or other approaches for the identification of individual plants and/or populations to provide a means for detecting and prosecuting illegal collection from the wild (see for example Palsboll et al., 2006).
Regional and Local Priority Actions The following regional and local priority recovery and threat abatement actions can be done to support the recovery of Dendrobium johannis. Habitat Loss, Disturbance and Modification • Monitor known populations to identify key threats. • Monitor the progress of recovery, including the effectiveness of management actions and the need to adapt them if necessary. • Identify populations of high conservation priority. • Minimise adverse impacts from land use at known sites. • Control access routes to suitably constrain public access to known sites on public land. • Suitably control and manage access on private land. • Investigate formal conservation arrangements, management agreements and covenants on private land, and for crown and private land investigate inclusion in reserve tenure if possible. Conservation Information • Raise awareness of D. johannis within the local community. • Improve the management of legal collection and minimise illegal collection (Coates et al., 2002). Enable Recovery of Additional Sites and/or Populations • Undertake appropriate seed collection and storage. • Investigate options for linking, enhancing or establishing additional populations. • Implement national translocation protocols (Vallee et al., 2004) if establishing additional populations is considered necessary and feasible. This list does not necessarily encompass all actions that may be of benefit to D. johannis, but highlights those that are considered to be of highest priority at the time of preparing the conservation advice.
Dendrobium johannis Conservation Advice - Page 2 of 3 This Conservation Advice was approved by the Minister / Delegate of the Minister on: 1/10/2008 Existing Plans/Management Prescriptions that are Relevant to the Species • Cape York Peninsula Natural Resource Management Plan (Earth Tech, 2005). This prescription was current at the time of publishing; please refer to the relevant agency’s website for any updated versions.
Information Sources: Briggs, J & Leigh, J 1996, Rare or Threatened Australian Plants, CSIRO, Melbourne. Burke, JM, Bayly, MJ, Adams, PB & Ladiges, PY 2008, ‘Molecular phylogenetic analysis of Dendrobium (Orchidaceae), with emphasis on the Australian section Dendrocoryne, and implications for generic classification’, Australian Systematic Botany, vol. 21, pp. 1–14. Clements, MA 2008, Australian Orchid Name Index, Centre for Plant Biodiversity Research/Australian National Herbarium, Canberra. Clements, MA & Jones, DL 2002, ‘Nomenclatural changes in the Dendrobieae (Orchidaceae) 1: The Australasian region’, The Orchadian, vol. 13, pp. 485–497. Coates, F, Jeanes, J & Pritchard, A 2002, Recovery Plan for Twenty- five Threatened Orchids of Victoria, South Australia and New South Wales 2003–2007, Department of Sustainability and Environment, Melbourne. Council of Heads of Australian Herbaria (CHAH) 2008, Australian Plant Name Index, Centre for Plant Biodiversity Research, viewed 22 May 2008,
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