Appendicula biumbonata

Appendicula biumbonata Schltr., Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. Beih. 1 (1912) 346

Type: Schlechter 17168 (holo B, lost)

Epiphyte, erect or patent, up to 70 cm high; rhizome very short, roots filiform, elongated, flexuose, puberulous; stems unbranched, almost straight, terete, entirely covered by the leaf-sheaths, 0.3-0.4 cm diameter, densely leafy; leaves erect -patent, oblong, obtuse, apex obliquely subbilobulate, apiculate, 4-6 cm long, near the middle 1.3-1.7 cm wide. Inflorescences terminal, somewhat patent, densely many-flowered, elongated, up to 7 cm long; bracts deflexed, oblong, obtuse, glabrous, somewhat shorter than the ovary. Flowers patent, glabrous. Sepals ovate, narrowly obtuse, 0.5 cm long. Lateral sepals oblique, at the base strongly dilated along the front margin, mentum oblongoid, obtuse, 0.4 cm long. Petals oblique, broadly elliptic-spathulate, obtuse, somewhat shorter than the sepals. Lip in the narrower lower half concave, subquadrate-dilated in upper half, obtusely apiculate, in apical fourth inside with two semiorbicular swellings next to each other, at the base with a thin, horseshoe-shaped lamella, in the middle decurrent on the margins, lip in total 0.6 cm long, below the middle 0.3 cm wide, above the middle 0.4 cm wide. Column short, without rostellum. Anther subcordate-ovate, in front tridentate, with a large reniform umbo; pollinia obliquely clavate, unequal-sized. Ovary shortly pedicellate, clavate, glabrous, 0.8 cm long. (After Schlechter, 1911-1914)

Colours: Flower greenish yellow, column-foot purple-red.

Habitat: Epiphyte in montane forest in shaded positions. Altitude 1000 m.

Flowering time in the wild: January.

Distribution: Malesia (New Guinea, endemic).

Distribution in New Guinea: Papua New Guinea. See map: 57-21M.JPG

Cultivation: Intermediate growing epiphyte, keep in shade.

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