Corybas mammillifer P.Royen, Phanerog. Monogr. 16 (1983) 76, fig. 18 ('mammilliferus')
Type: Brass 10915 (holo L)
Small, 5 cm high terrestrial. Tuber globose or ellipsoid, 0.6 by 0.35 cm. Stem 1.5 cm high, 2-ribbed, glabrous. Cataphyll funnel-shaped, 0.8 cm long, caudate-acuminate, glabrous. Leaves triangular, 1.2 by 1.2 cm, obtusely apiculate, at the base cordate, broadly cuneate at very base, basal nerves 2 on either side of mid-rib, only inner one reaching apical part of the leaf-blade, cross-veins 4 on either side of mid-rib, connate to inner basal nerve, venation widely reticulate, mid-rib sunken above, prominent below in the basal part only, margin wavy; with scattered pellucid lenticels. Pedicel terete, 0.15 cm long, glabrous. Floral bract linear but ovate at the base, 0.7 by 0.15 cm, subulate-acute, glabrous. Ovary oblong-ellipsoid, 0.4 by 0.15 cm, broadly 3-ribbed with 3 narrow and shallower ribs in between, glabrous. Median sepal spathulate-obovate, curved, slightly hooded, 1.7 by 0.7 cm, subobtuse, margins wavy, 5-nerved at the base, 10-nerved on hood, glabrous. Lateral sepals ovate at the base, otherwise linear, 1.3 by 0.15 cm, caudate, boat-shaped at the base, twisted in apical half. Petals similar to the lateral sepals but 2 cm long and 2-nerved. Lip tubular in basal part, abruptly curved and widening into a broadly ovate blade, 0.7 by 1.5 cm large, subtruncate, margin irregularly fimbriate-dentate, 3-nerved at the base, about 18-nerved near margin, glabrous; spurs mammilliform, 0.2 by 0.2 cm. Capsule ellipsoid, 0.9 by 0.4 cm, at the tip with remnant of flower, with stout twin ribs on the sutures and several slender, simple ribs on middle of each valve, glabrous. (After Van Royen, 1983).
Colours: Leaves variegated green and brown. Flowers red with a big white patch on lip.
Habitat: Terrestrial in upper montane forest. Altitude 2800 m.
Flowering time in the wild: October.
Distribution: Malesia (New Guinea, endemic).
Distribution in New Guinea: Papua (Indonesia). See map: 178-74M.JPG
Cultivation: Cool growing terrestrial.