Eria mucronata Lindl., Edwards's Bot. Reg. (1842) Misc. 25
Type: Loddiges cult. (Cuming) s.n. (Singapore)
Rhizome creeping, short, thick, terete. Stems when dried 1.5 cm apart, elongated, terete, leafy, 75 cm long, internodes 1.5-2.5 cm long. Leaves patent, linear-lanceolate, apex strongly unequally narrowly obtuse, midrib when dried grooved above, prominent below, when dried rigidly coriaceous, 4-10 cm long, 0.75-1.2 cm wide; sheaths tubular, above in front torn open. Inflorescence arising from a pit of the leafy stem, very short, 1-flowered, rachis terete 1.2-1.3 cm long; bracts 5, widely patent or more or less recurved, oblong- to lanceolate-ovate, acute or narrowly obtuse, mostly convex, carnose, 0.7-1.1 cm long, 0.2-0.55 cm wide. Flower rather large. Median sepal oblong, apex incurved, obtuse, cucullate-concave, at the base 7-nerved, 1.9 cm long, 0.88 cm wide, Lateral sepals with column-foot mentum short wide rounded 0.7 cm long forming, obliquely ovate-triangular, apex strongly recurved, obtuse, in the basal part strongly concave, 9-nerved, 1.65 cm long, 1.1 cm wide. Petals incurved, obliquely oblong, towards the apex somewhat obliquely dilated, somewhat falcate, apex broadly obtuse, more or less emarginate, and flattened-concave, at the base 3-nerved, 1.63 cm long, at the apex 0.73 cm, in the middle 0.66 cm wide. Lip mobile, curved, concave, broad, 3-lobed, 3-nerved, when not flattened 0.78 cm long, when flattened transversely subelliptic-quadrangular, 0.87 cm long, 1.2 cm wide, median part between the lateral lobes thickened, laxly transversely rugulose up to the base of the mid-lobe, there on either side provided with a tooth, midrib vanishing towards the base, near the base of the mid-lobe terminating in an erect, narrowly subulate appendage; lateral lobes widely separated, erect, margin abruptly incurved, concave, apex free, very short, obtuse, crenate; mid-lobe recurved, short, broad, retuse, crenulate, in the middle with a concavity, in front of the concavity convex, when flattened 0.34 cm long, 0.88 cm wide. Column dorsally compressed, straight, dorsally convex, apex truncate, 0.7 cm long, 0.44 cm wide, clinandrium very small, concave. Anther cucullate, transversely ovate, apex broadly obtuse, minutely bilobulate, 0.23 cm wide. Pollinia 8, laterally compressed, obtriangular to obliquely obovate. Rostellum recurved, short, rounded. Stigma large, subquadrangular. Column-foot with making an obtuse angle with the column, making an acute angle with the ovary, oblong, straight, 0.48 cm long, apex somewhat incurved, truncate, concave, margin erose, below the apex with a rather large, transverse, patent, quadrangular, truncate, subretuse, verruculose, papillose appendage. Ovary with pedicel terete, 6-grooved,.1.4-1.8 cm long. (After Smith, 1913, as Eria rigida Blume var. papuana J.J.Sm.)
Colours: Floral bracts yelow-brown. Flower white, hypochile of lip and base of column purple, anther yellowish white.
Habitat: Epiphyte in lowland forest. Altitude 0-30 m.
Flowering time in the wild: January, March.
Distribution: Malesia (Peninsular Malaysia, Singapore, Sumatra, Borneo, New Guinea).
Distribution in New Guinea: Papua (Indonesia). See map: 282-485M.JPG
Cultivation: Warm growing epiphyte.