Channelled boat-lip orchid

Cymbidium canaliculatum is an epiphytic, clump-forming herb with greyish green pseudobulbs 80–120 mm (3.1–4.7 in) long and 30–40 mm (1–2 in) wide. Each pseudobulb has between two and six rigid, fleshy, curved, deeply channelled leaves 300–500 mm (12–20 in) and 30–40 mm (1–2 in) wide. Between five and sixty flowers, 25–45 mm (0.98–1.8 in) long and 20–40 mm (0.79–1.6 in) wide are borne on a flowering stem 200–400 mm (7.9–16 in) long. The flowers are olive green, yellow, brown or purple often with spots, blotches or both. The sepals are 15–25 mm (0.59–0.98 in) long and 7–10 mm (0.3–0.4 in) wide and the petals are 13–22 mm (0.51–0.87 in) long and 5–9 mm (0.2–0.4 in) wide. The labellum is usually white with red or purple markings, 15–20 mm (0.59–0.79 in) long and 8–10 mm (0.31–0.39 in) wide with three lobes. The side lobes are erect and the middle lobe curves downwards with a warty or hairy upper surface and two ridges along its midline. Flowering occurs between September and October.

The channelled boat-lip orchid grows in the forks or hollows of trees in woodlands and drier forests in the Kimberley region of Western Australia, the northern parts of the Northern Territory, (including Melville Island) and from Cape York Peninsula in Queensland south to the Hunter River in New South Wales.