Malaxis macrophylla (Schltr.) P.F.Hunt, Kew Bull. 24 (1970) 81
Basionym: Microstylis macrophylla
Terrestrial, stout, erect, glabrous, up to 40 cm high. Roots filiform, elongated, villose. Stem short. Leaves erect-patent, 4-6, obliquely ovate to elliptic-lanceolate, acute to acuminate, narrowed at the base into a petiole, plicate; blade 10-16 cm long, below the middle 3.5-5.5 cm wide; petiole linear, at the base somewhat dilated, clasping the stem, 4-6.5 cm long. Inflorescence stout, erect, with a few distant scales, somewhat terete; rachis rather densely many-flowered, up to 18 cm long. Floral bracts linear-lanceolate, subulate-acuminate, deflexed, as long as or shorter than the ovary. Flowers erect-patent, not resupinate. Sepals deflexed. Median sepal oblong, subobtuse, 0.4 cm long, near the middle almost 0.2 cm wide. Lateral sepals patent, obliquely ovate-falcate, obtuse, about as long as the median sepal but a little broader. Petals linear-oblong, subfalcate, obtuse, pendent, about as long as the median sepal. Lip erect long-auriculate; auricles lanceolate-falcate, subobtuse, 0.2 cm long; blade in outline reniform, 0.35 cm long [excluding the auricles], 0.4 cm wide, at the apex bifid, on either side 4-dentate, the apical teeth larger than the others, the outermost teeth triangular, the middle ones falcate. Column short, stelidia slightly surpassing the rostellum; rostellum subretuse. Anther obovoid. Ovary subclavate, almost 0.5 cm long. (After Schlechter, 1905, and Schlechter, 1911-1914)
Colours: Not recorded.
Habitat: Terrestrial in lowland forest; 200 to 500 m.
Flowering time in the wild: February, November, December.
Distribution: Malesia (New Guinea, endemic).
Distribution in New Guinea: Papua New Guinea. See map: 431-239M.JPG.
Cultivation: Warm growing terrestrial, requires shaded position.