Thrixspermum brevipes Schltr., Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. Beih. 1 (1913) 960
Type: Schlechter 20174 (holo B, lost)
Epiphytic, stout, 10-20 cm long; roots flexuose, glabrous. Stem slightly flattened, 3-10 cm long, densely leafy, entirely covered with the striate leaf-sheaths. Leaves erect-patent, obliquely oblong-ligulate, unequally and obtusely bilobulate, 7-11 cm long, near the middle 2.3-4 cm wide, towards the base somewhat narrowed. Inflorescence strongly flattened, saw-like, only slightly pedunculate, to 12 cm long. Floral bracts conduplicate, obtuse, half as long as the ovary. Flowers erect-patent. Sepals linear-lanceolate, strongly acuminate, 2.2 cm long. Lateral sepals oblique. Petals obliquely linear, acute, a little shorter than the sepals, glabrous. Lip at the base semiglobose-saccate, retuse, above the base semiorbicular-cuneate, 3-lobed near the apex, 1 cm long, above the middle 0.8 cm wide; lateral lobes very small, short, obliquely semi-oblong, obtuse; mid-lobe a little longer, semiorbicular-triangular, broadly obtuse, swollen at the apex; in the basal half of the lip with a quadrangular, at the apex indistinctly 3-dentate appendage; at the very base with a subulate, densely papillose callus. Column short, glabrous, foot rather long. Anther helmet-shaped-cucullate, at the apex minutely bidentate; glabrous; pollinia narrowly oblongoid; stipe short, semioblong; viscidium minute, transverse. Ovary slender, glabrous, c. 1.5 cm long. (After Schlechter, 1911-1914)
Colours: Flowers light yellowish, lip at the base with a large red spot.
Habitat: Epiphyte in lower montane forest; 800 m.
Flowering time in the wild: September.
Distribution: Malesia (New Guinea).
Distribution in New Guinea: Papua New Guinea. See map: 690-43M.JPG.
Cultivation: Intermediate growing epiphyte.