Appendicula parvifolia

Appendicula parvifolia (Schltr.) J.J.Sm., Bull. Jard. Bot. Buitenzorg, sér. 2, 8 (1912) 36

Basionym: Cyphochilus parvifolius

Terrestrial, erect, several-stemmed, branched, 30-45 cm high; rhizome very short, roots filiform, elongated, flexuose, glabrous; stems and branches slender, curved, somewhat rigid, densely leafy, entirely covered by closely appressed sheaths; leaves erect-patent, elliptic-ligulate, 1.2-2 cm long, near the middle 0.25-0.5 cm wide, apex minutely bidentate, with a minute apiculum, glabrous. Inflorescences terminal, short, usually 1-flowered, at the base with a few bract-like scales; bracts ovate-lanceolate, acuminate, shorter than the ovary. Flowers porrect. Sepals oblong, apiculate, glabrous, 0.6 cm long. Lateral sepals oblique, subapiculate, at the base somewhat dilated along the front margin, mentum short, obtuse. Petals obliquely linear, acuminate, below the apex somewhat dilated, glabrous, about as long as the sepals. Lip 0.7 cm long, at the base cuneate-clawed, in upper half abruptly dilated into a broadly reniform, bilobed blade with somewhat subcrenulate-undulate margins, blade above the base 0.7 cm wide, above the base with a cucullate appendage, in basal third of the claw on either side with an indistinct puberulous swelling, passing into two lamellae which are puberulous inside at the base and dilated and rounded towards the apex, extending to the base of the blade, at the apex of the blade with an oblong median callus. Column semiterete, glabrous, auricles large, obtuse. Anther broadly ovate-cordate, obtuse, glabrous, dorsally with an obtuse swelling. Ovary cylindrical, glabrous, 0.5 cm long. (After Schlechter, 1911-1914, as Cyphochilus parvifolius Schltr.)

Colours: Flower greenish white, lip white.

Habitat: Terrestrial in lower montane forest. Altitude 1000 m.

Flowering time in the wild: May.

Distribution: Malesia (New Guinea, endemic).

Distribution in New Guinea: Papua New Guinea. See map: 57-149M.JPG

Cultivation: Intermediate growing terrestrial, keep in shade.

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