Glomera oligantha Schltr., Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. 16 (1919) 46
Type: Kempf s.n. (border between German and English New Guinea) (holo B, lost)
Epiphytic, small, 7-10 cm high, sparsely branched at the base. Roots filiform, flexuose, thin, glabrous. Stems simple or sparsely branched, densely leafy, thinly terete, entirely covered with transversely warty, slightly compressed leaf-sheaths, scarcely 0.15 cm diam. Leaves patent, oblong, obtuse, carnose. 0.5-0.8 cm long, near the middle 0.28-0.4 cm wide. Inflorescences terminal, sessile, 2-flowered, enveloped by two cucullate sheaths. Floral bracts very small, ovate, thin-textured, shorter than the ovary. Flower thin-textured, glabrous. Sepals oblong, rather obtusely apiculate, 0.5 cm long. Lateral sepals strongly oblique, at the base along the front margins strongly widened, up to the middle connate, forming a semioblongoid sac clasping the lip. Petals obliquely oblong-ligulate, obtuse, almost as long as the sepals. Lip blade semirhombic-quadrangular, apex broadly triangular, carnose, very small, scarcely 0.15 cm long and wide at the base; spur subglobose, dorsally flattened, 0.3 cm long and wide. Column short, slightly incurved. Ovary cylindrical-fusiform, 0.4 cm long. (After Schlechter, 1919).
Colours: Not recorded for the type. Flowers now known to be yellowish cream with a bright red blotch on the lip apex, with an almost blackish anther.
Habitat: Epiphyte in montane forest. Altitude 1800-2200 m.
Flowering time in the wild: January, May, July, September.
Distribution: Malesia (New Guinea, endemic).
Distribution in New Guinea: Papua (Indonesia); Papua New Guinea. See map: 322-95M.JPG
Cultivation: Intermediate growing epiphyte.
Note: Easily recognised by the very small leaves and the 2-flowered inflorescences.