Phaius amboinensis Blume, Mus. Bot. Lugd. Bat. 2 (1856) 180
Type: Zippelius s.n. (Moluccas, Ambon) (holo L)
Terrestrial, erect, stout, to 100 cm high; roots flexuose, elongated, finely villose. Stem erect, stout, angular or subterete, 30-40 cm high, 1.3 cm diam., in basal half with tightly clasping cataphylls, leafy towards the apex. Leaves circa 4, erect, apex pendent, oblong-lanceolate, acuminate, at the base gradually narrowed into the petiole, glabrous, veined-plicate, 30-60 cm long, near the middle 5-8 cm wide; petiole short veined, tightly clasping the stem. Inflorescence axillary, erect, straight, with distant, tightly clasping peduncle-scales; slender, shorter than the leaves. Inflorescence laxly several-flowered. Floral bracts lanceolate, acuminate, shorter than the ovary. Flowers patent or pendent, spurless, glabrous. Sepals oblong, obtuse, 2.6 cm long. Lateral sepals somewhat oblique. Petals subspathulate, oblanceolate-ligulate, obtuse, as long as the sepals. Lip at the base concave, broadly cuneate, 2.4 cm long, in the apical part across the base of the lobes 2.6 cm wide, in the apical part 3-lobed, lobes almost equally large and equally long, obtuse, keels 2, parallel, a little widened in the middle, extending from the base to the apex of the lip, decurrent. Column slender, towards the apex somewhat widened, 2.1 cm long. Anther rounded, apex deeply notched. Ovary pedicellate, clavate, 2 cm long, glabrous. (After Schlechter, 1905, as Phaius papuanus Schltr.)
Colours: Flower white, sometimes lip light yellow.
Habitat: Terrestrial in lowland forest, often in deep shade; 20 to 900 m.
Flowering time in the wild: February, March, April, June, July, September, October.
Distribution: Malesia (Java, Sulawesi, Moluccas, New Guinea, Philippines), Australia, New Caledonia, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Samoa.
Distribution in New Guinea: Papua (Indonesia); Papua New Guinea. See map: 544-3M.JPG.
Cultivation: Warm growing terrestrial, requires shaded position.