Eria lactea Kraenzl. in Engl., Pflanzenr. IV. 50. II. B. 21 (1911) 91
Type: Micholitz s.n. (New Guinea, probably Friedrich Wilhelmshafen) (holo B, lost)
Pseudobulbs closely spaced, shortly cylindrical, with few internodes, 4-6 cm high, almost 1 cm thick, 3-leaved at the apex. Leaves coriaceous, at the base shortly conduplicate, oblong, obtuse, apex shortly unequal, to 18 by 3 cm. Racemes abundantly produced, singly from. the leaf-axils, shorter than the leaves, at the base covered with bract-like scales, to 12 cm long, few- to several-flowered, at the base sparsely, between the flowers densely puberulous. Floral bracts large, oblong, acute, to 2 by 0.5-0.6 cm, the upper ones much smaller, glabrous, mostly shorter than the ovary. Sepals thin-textured, when dried pellucid. Median sepal ovate, 0.7 cm long, acute. Lateral sepals broadly ovate-triangular, 0.8 by 0.3 cm, acute; mentum obtuse, slightly incurved. Petals about as long as the sepals, 0.7 cm long, lanceolate, acute. Lip cuneate, 0.8 cm long, across the lateral lobes 0.8 cm wide; lateral lobes large, semi-obovate, separated from the mid-lobe by a rounded sinus; mid-lobe hardly longer, quadrangular, retuse to emarginate, on the entire disc and along the margins papillose with thick, carnose, semiglobose papillae, on the disc with three keels of which the central one is longer, all abruptly terminating in front, decurrent towards the base of the mid-lobe, lateral keels divergent. Ovary densely pilose. (After Kraenzlin, 1911).
Colours: Flowers and bracts milky white, lateral lobes of the lip orange.
Habitat: Not known.
Flowering time in the wild: Not known
Distribution: Malesia (New Guinea, endemic).
Distribution in New Guinea: Papua New Guinea. See map: 282-362M.JPG