Epiblastus accretus J.J.Sm., Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 66 (1934) 176
Type: Mayr 773 (holo L)
Young shoots at the base covered with conduplicate, basally tubular, overlapping, subacute, keeled, to 9-10 cm long sheaths that become larger upwards. Leaf when young conduplicate, ligulate, up to c. 26 cm long, when flattened 1.6-2.5 cm wide. Inflorescences fascicled, c. 20, peduncles c. 12 cm long. Floral bracts at the base shortly cucullate, triangular-subulate-acuminate, 0.2 cm long. Flowers somewhat fleshy, 1.25 cm long. Median sepal making an obtuse angle with the ovary, above the base rounded-obtusely angled incurved, otherwise straight, ovate, obtuse, concave, 5-nerved, 0.77 cm long, 0.43 cm wide. Lateral sepals decurrent on the column-foot, porrect, slightly divergent, obliquely obtusely angled, triangular, apex pointed or shortly contracted, obtuse and dorsally thickened, posterior margin slightly curved, front margin at the base rounded, bent inwards, 5-nerved, 0.77 cm long, front margin almost 1.1 cm long, at the base 0.65 cm wide; mentum conical, straight, dorsally compressed, making an acute angle with the ovary, pointing downwards, elliptic, obtuse, dorsal part in the centre triangular-convex, almost 0.4 cm long. Petals obliquely elliptic, narrowly obtuse, 3-nerved, 0.7 cm long, 0.33 cm wide. Lip recurved in the middle, mid-lobe incurved (always?), clawed, 3-lobed, inside a with a broad, transverse, in front slightly rounded thickening that almost reaches the base of the mid-lobe and on either side at the base gradually vanishes, 0.83 cm long, when flattened cruciate, 0.93 cm, to apex of the lateral lobes 0.75-0.8 cm long, across the lateral lobes 0.67 cm wide, claw dorsally strongly channelled, cuneate-quadrangular, 0.4-0.5 cm long, at its base 0.18 cm wide, at its apex 0.38 cm wide, inside with a strong keel adnate to the entire length of the column-foot; lateral lobes on either side of the column erect, not reaching the back of the column, making an obtuse angle with the claw, obliquely rounded, slightly wavy, 0.3 cm by 0.34 cm; mid-lobe incurved (?), with incurved margins, concave, ovate-triangular, obtuse, base broad, 0.25 cm long, 0.23 cm wide. Column short, broad, dorsally convex, without anther 0.3 cm long, clinandrium transverse, concave, apex triangular, auricles short, broad, obtuse. Stigma conspicuous, hollowed out, transversely subelliptic. Column-foot making an acute angle with the ovary, almost straight, broadly linear, carnose, adnate along the whole length to the keel on the claw of the lip, 0.35 cm long. Ovary 6-grooved, 2.3 cm long. (After Smith, 1934).
Colours: Flower red.
Habitat: Probably epiphyte in upper montane forest. Altitude 2600 m.
Flowering time in the wild: March.
Distribution: Malesia (New Guinea, endemic).
Distribution in New Guinea: Papua (Indonesia); Papua New Guinea. See map: 272-1M.JPG
Cultivation: Probably cool growing epiphyte.