Microtatorchis carinata Schltr., Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. Beih. 1 (1913) 1004
Type: Schlechter 16540 (syn B, lost); 17024 (syn B, lost); 20143 (syn B, lost)
Epiphytic, very small, stemless, 2-4 cm high. Roots filiform, glabrous. Leaves ligulate or oblanceolate, apiculate, 1.5-4 cm long, at or above the middle 0.2-0.4 cm wide. Inflorescence erect-patent, laxly few-flowered, flexuose, angular, only slightly longer than the leaves. Floral bracts triangular, acute, at the base on either side with a tooth. Flowers minute, glabrous. Sepals and petals up to the middle connate into a bell-shaped tube, keeled outside, free parts lanceolate, subacute. Sepals 0.33 cm long. Lateral sepals oblique. Petals a little shorter, oblique. Lip lanceolate, as long as the petals, acute, in basal half with a concavity with two marginal protrusions; spur subglobose, slightly more than a fourth as long as the lip blade. Column very short, deeply bilobed. Anther rounded-cucullate, praemorse; pollinia oblongoid; stipe as long as the pollinia, at the base slender, upwards broadly cuneate; viscidium oblong, very small. Ovary sharply 6-keeled, with subdentate keels, 0.23 cm long. (After Schlechter, 1911-1914)
Colours: Flowers green.
Habitat: Epiphyte in lower montane forest; 700 to 1000 m.
Flowering time in the wild: September, December.
Distribution: Malesia (New Guinea, endemic).
Distribution in New Guinea: Papua New Guinea. See map: 449-7M.JPG.
Cultivation: Intermediate growing epiphyte.