Taeniophyllum aureum Schltr., Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. Beih. 1 (1913) 1025
Type: Schlechter 17629; 18994; 19679 (B, lost)
Epiphyte without leaves. Roots flattened, flexuose, 0.25-0.4 cm wide, to more than 30 cm long. Inflorescence somewhat densely many-flowered, distichous, including the slender peduncle up to 3 cm long. Floral bracts rather small, deltoid, much shorter than the ovary. Flowers glabrous, opening in succession. Sepals narrowly oblong, obtuse, 1 cm long. Lateral sepals oblique. Petals quite similar to the sepals but distinctly shorter. Lip at the base broadly cuneate, in the middle 3-lobed, as long as the petals, in the middle almost 0.6 cm wide; lateral lobes triangular, subacute, short; mid-lobe ovate, obtuse, with swollen margins, much larger; spur almost straight, cylindrical, subobtuse, above the middle slightly widened, 1 cm long. Column very short; rostellum hammer-shaped, very large. Anther at the base broadly rhomboid-cucullate, linear-rostrate; pollinia obliquely obovoid; stipe more than twice as long, at the base thin, widened towards the apex; viscidium narrowly linear, at both ends acute, as long as the stipe. Ovary subsessile, glabrous, 0.7 cm long. (After Schlechter, 1911-1914)
Colours: Flowers golden yellow with paler spur.
Habitat: Epiphyte in lower montane forest; 700 to 800 m.
Flowering time in the wild: April, June, December.
Distribution: Malesia (New Guinea).
Distribution in New Guinea: Papua New Guinea. See map: 676-16M.JPG.
Cultivation: Intermediate growing epiphyte.