Malaxis fasciata (Schltr.) P.F.Hunt, Kew Bull. 24 (1970) 79
Basionym: Microstylis fasciata
Terrestrial, erect, 15-25 cm high. Rhizome stem-like, short; roots filiform, elongated, flexuose, puberulous. Stem short, 4-7 cm high, many-leaved, terete, glabrous. Leaves 4-8, erect-patent or patent, petiolate; blade obliquely elliptic or elliptic-lanceolate, acute or acuminate, at the base rounded, glabrous on both sides, margins more or less undulate, 5-7.5 cm long, below the middle 2.2-3.2 cm wide; petiole dilated at the base, sheathing, 1-2 cm long. Inflorescence slender, straight or nearly so, angular, with a few small, distant, bract-like scales, glabrous; rachis rather densely many-flowered, elongated, up to 10 cm long, 1-1.3 cm diam. across the flowers. Flowers patent, glabrous. Floral bracts deflexed, narrowly lanceolate, acuminate, about as long as the ovary. Sepals oblong, obtuse. Median sepal 0.35 cm long. Lateral sepals oblique, a little shorter. Petals ligulate, obtuse, about as long as the lateral sepals. Lip with long crescent shaped auricles, below the middle 3-lobed, 0.3 cm long, below the middle 0.35 cm wide; lateral lobes with a minute exterior angle, otherwise bidentate, the teeth deltoid-subulate, acute; mid-lobe oblong, obtuse, bifid to the middle, the segments obtuse, almost twice surpassing the teeth of the lateral lobes. Lip with a very small basal pit with a horseshoe-shaped rim from the base to the middle of the lip; auricles obliquely lanceolate-triangular, subacute, 0.2 cm long. Column short, rather thick, towards the apex somewhat dilated. Anther subreniform. Ovary cylindrical, glabrous, 6-ribbed, including the pedicel 0.4 cm long. (After Schlechter, 1911-1914)
Colours: Leaves in the centre yellowish green, near the margins with a light brown band. Flowers yellow, after a few days becoming red.
Habitat: Terrestrial in lowland forest; 50 to 250 m.
Flowering time in the wild: January, April, August.
Distribution: Malesia (New Guinea, endemic).
Distribution in New Guinea: Papua (Indonesia); Papua New Guinea. See map: 431-135M.JPG.
Cultivation: Warm growing terrestrial, requires shaded position.