Appendicula carinifera

Appendicula carinifera Schltr., Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. Beih. 1 (1912) 343

Type: Schlechter 19631 (holo B, lost)

Epiphyte, slender, up to 60 cm high; rhizome short, decumbent; roots filiform, elongated, flexuose, glabrous; stems unbranched or sparsely branched, densely leafy, thinly terete, entirely covered by the closely appressed leaf-sheaths; leaves many, erect-patent, linear-ligulate, apex bidentate, mucronate, glabrous, 1.5-3 cm long, near the middle 0.2-0.4 cm wide; Inflorescence terminal, somewhat patent, rather laxly 4-10-flowered, up to 3.5 cm long; bracts ovate-lanceolate, acute, usually somewhat longer than the ovary. Flowers patent, glabrous. Sepals ovate, apiculate, keeled along the mid-vein, with the keels decurrent on the ovary, 0.33 cm long. Lateral sepals oblique, at the base lobed-dilated along the front margin, mentum oblongoid, obtuse, 0.2 cm long. Petals obliquely subfalcate, linear, obtuse, somewhat dilated towards the base, somewhat shorter than the sepals. Lip in outline somewhat pandurate-oblong, apiculate, concave in basal fourth, margins adnate to the column-foot, above the base with a carnose, horseshoe-shaped, dorsally notched callus, towards the middle decurrent on the margins, lip in total 0.43 cm long, above the base 0.23 cm wide, above the middle 0.2 cm wide. Column short, column-foot slender (rostellum in missing in the specimen seen). Anther subreniform, apiculate, on either side with a lateral tooth, glabrous; pollinia obliquely falcate-clavate, glabrous. Ovary subsessile, tricarinate, 0.4 cm long. (After Schlechter, 1911-1914)

Colours: Flower white with violet-red tips and keels, lip in the middle, along the margins and at the apex violet-red.

Habitat: Epiphyte in montane forest in shaded positions. Altitude 1200 m.

Flowering time in the wild: May.

Distribution: Malesia (New Guinea, endemic).

Distribution in New Guinea: Papua New Guinea. See map: 57-34M.JPG

Cultivation: Intermediate growing epiphyte, keep in shade.

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