Oberonia brunnea Schltr. in K.Schum. & Lauterb., Nachtr. Fl. Deutsch. Schutzgeb. Südsee (1905) 110
Type: Schlechter 15740 (holo B, lost)
Epiphytic, erect, several-stemmed, 10-16 cm high; roots filiform, flexuose, elongated, glabrous. Stems more or less flexuose, 5-12-leaved, at the base with a few short cataphylls. Leaves suberect, linear or linear-lanceolate, sharply acute or acuminate, more or less falcate, 2-5 cm long, near the middle 0.3-0.6 cm wide, sheathing at the base; sheaths entirely covering the stem, ancipitous, front margins long connate. Inflorescence erect or spreading, somewhat lax, up to 5 cm long, 0.3-0.4 cm diam. across the flowers. Floral bracts lanceolate, acuminate, almost as long as the ovary. Flowers almost whorled. Sepals broadly ovate, subacute, 0.1 cm long. Lateral sepals somewhat oblique. Petals ligulate, obtuse, oblique, as long as the sepals. Lip at the base concave, cordate, auriculate, 3-lobed, 1.5 cm long; lateral lobes very short, rounded; mid-lobe oblong, in the apical part prolonged into two falcate-triangular, acute lobules with a small tooth in between. Column short, rather thick. Ovary 0.1 cm long, subcylindrical. (After Schlechter, 1905)
Colours: Flowers brown.
Habitat: Epiphyte in lowland forest; 400 m.
Flowering time in the wild: February.
Distribution: Malesia (New Guinea, endemic).
Distribution in New Guinea: Papua New Guinea. See map: 485-51M.JPG.
Cultivation: Warm growing epiphyte.