Oberonia volucris Schltr., Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. Beih. 1 (1911) 157
Type: Schlechter 18775 (holo B, lost)
Epiphytic, erect, several-stemmed, up to 15 cm high. Rhizome very short; roots filiform, elongated, flexuose, glabrous. Stems indistinctly flexuose, laxly 5-6-leaved, entirely hidden by the leaf-bases, acute, glabrous, free part 3-6 cm long, at the base 0.3-0.4 cm wide. Inflorescence carrying flowers up to the base, slender, densely many-flowered, up to 5.5 cm long, almost 0.4 cm diam. across the flowers. Floral bracts lanceolate, acuminate, with irregularly dentate margins, dorsally keeled, a little shorter than the flowers. Flowers almost whorled, very small, patent, glabrous. Sepals oblong-elliptic, obtuse, 0.05 cm long. Lateral sepals oblique. Petals obliquely oblong, obtuse, apical half with irregularly subdentate margins, almost as long as the sepals. Lip at the base cordate, 3-lobed, as long as the petals; lateral lobes divergent, subquadrate-oblong, broadly obtuse, basal margins subcrenulate; mid-lobe longer than the lateral lobes, broadly ligulate, at the apex subtruncate-broadly obtuse, entire. Column very short, rather thick. Ovary clavate, glabrous, including the pedicel 0.08 cm long. (After Schlechter, 1911-1914)
Colours: Flowers dark brown-red.
Habitat: Epiphyte in upper montane forest; 1560 to 2000 m.
Flowering time in the wild: November, December.
Distribution: Malesia (New Guinea, endemic).
Distribution in New Guinea: Papua New Guinea. See map: 485-398M.JPG.
Cultivation: Cool growing epiphyte.