Appendicula concava

Appendicula concava Schltr., Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. Beih. 1 (1912) 347

Type: Schlechter 17204 (holo B, lost)

Epiphyte, erect or patent, up to 40 cm long; rhizome very short, roots filiform, elongated, flexuose, shortly villose; stems unbranched, almost straight or somewhat flexuose, thinly terete, leafy, 0.2-0.35 cm diameter, entirely covered by the leaf-sheaths; leaves erect-patent, oblong, obtuse, apex obliquely and shortly bilobulate with a minute apiculum, 2.5-3.5 cm long, near the middle 0.6-1.2 cm wide; Inflorescence terminal, eventually becoming somewhat patent, rather densely many-flowered, elongated, up to 5 cm long; bracts oblong, apiculate, shorter than the ovary, reflexed. Flowers patent, glabrous. Sepals ovate-triangular, obtuse, outside minutely apiculate. 0.4 cm long. Lateral sepals oblique, at the base lobed-dilated along the front margin, mentum oblongoid, broadly obtuse, 0.25 cm long. Petals very broadly ovate-elliptic, obtuse, somewhat shorter than the sepals. Lip in outline oblong, obtuse, in the middle slightly constricted, in the lower half strongly concave, at the base with a long and narrow horseshoe-shaped lamella which is decurrent to the middle, lip in total almost 0.05 cm long, 0.03 cm wide. Column short, without rostellum, apex shortly tridentate. Anther broadly ovate-cucullate, dorsally with a rather high callus, in front minutely tridentate, glabrous; pollinia obliquely clavate, unequal-sized. Ovary with the short pedicel clavate, glabrous, 0.4 cm long. (After Schlechter, 1911-1914)

Colours: Flower yellow, lip and petals at the base with red margins, column-foot 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: 57-42M.JPG

Cultivation: Intermediate growing epiphyte, keep in shade.

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