Agrostophyllum crassicaule Schltr., Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. Beih. 1 (1912) 270
Type: Schlechter 17036 (holo B, lost)
Epiphytic, erect or patent, up to 50 cm long, robust. Rhizome very short. Roots filiform, elongated, flexuose, shortly villose. Stems thick, somewhat compressed, densely leafy, entirely covered by the leaf-sheaths. Leaves erect-patent, ligulate, obtuse, shortly apiculate, rounded at the base, gradually slightly narrowed towards the apex, 9-13 cm long, below the middle 2-2.5 cm wide; leaf-sheaths close-fitting, at the apex on either side with a very small, short, falcate-incurved, obtuse projection. Capitulum semiglobose, many-flowered, 2.5-3 cm across, enveloped by several sheaths which soon split up into fibres. Peduncles short, covered with a few imbricating scales, 1-2-flowered. Floral bracts very small, hyaline, apiculate. Flowers erect or erect-patent. Sepals ovate, acuminate, glabrous, about 0.65 cm long. Lateral sepals oblique, somewhat decurrent at the base. Petals ovate-lanceolate, narrowly obtuse, acuminate, glabrous, a little shorter than the sepals, becoming recurved. Lip in basal part subglobose-saccate, indistinctly 3-lobed; lateral lobes erect, very short, broadly obtuse; mid-lobe in basal part subreniform, indistinctly 3-lobulate, obtuse, 0.4 cm long, below the middle 0.55 cm wide, sac about 0.25 cm across, in front of the opening of the sac with a transverse, low lamellae, which is shortly and obtusely, bidentate at the apex. Column a little more than half as long as the lip, straight, towards the apex somewhat dilated, next to the stigma with two short, obtuse, porrect callosities, in basal half in front somewhat thickened, slightly constricted in the middle. Ovary cylindrical, glabrous, sessile, about 0.6 cm long. (After Schlechter, 1911-1914).
Colours: Flower white with two red spots on the lip.
Habitat: Epiphyte in montane forest. Altitude 762-1000 m.
Flowering time in the wild: March, December.
Distribution: Malesia (New Guinea, endemic).
Distribution in New Guinea: Papua New Guinea. See map: 24-22M.JPG
Cultivation: Intermediate growing epiphyte.
Note: Related to Agrostophyllum brachiatum, but with broader leaves, while the leaf-sheaths are provided with a short appendage on each side.