Appendicula polyphylla Schltr., Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. Beih. 1 (1912) 345
Type: Schlechter 19177 (holo B, lost)
Epiphyte, erect, 30-40 cm high; rhizome decumbent, rather short, covered with overlapping sheaths; roots filiform, elongated, flexuose, villose; stems straight or almost straight, unbranched or sparsely branched, thinly terete, many-leaved, glabrous, entirely covered by the closely appressed leaf-sheaths, 0.2 cm diameter; leaves erect-patent or suberect, oblong-ligulate, minutely and unequally bilobulate with a minute mucro, 1-2.5 cm long, near the middle 0.3 -0.6 cm wide; Inflorescence terminal, rather densely 5-10-flowered, up to 2 cm long; bracts soon becoming patent, ovate-lanceolate, acute, usually somewhat longer than the ovary. Flowers patent, glabrous. Sepals ovate, apiculate, 0.35 cm long. Lateral sepals at the base along the front margin dilated, outside somewhat keeled-thickened along the mid-vein, mentum semiglobose, broadly obtuse. Petals obliquely ligulate, subacute; somewhat shorter than the sepals. Lip in outline elliptic, obtuse, front margin irregular, glabrous, 0.4 cm long, near the middle 0.28 cm wide, at the base with a horseshoe-shaped, dorsally weakly 4-lobulate lamella decurrent up to the basal third, in the middle of the blade of the lip with an indistinct, narrowly elliptic swelling. Column short, apex shortly tridentate, column-foot rather short, rostellum low, triangular. Anther broadly ovate-cucullate, with a large umbo, apex on either side with a small falcate apiculum. Ovary subsessile, glabrous, 0.3 cm long, cylindrical. (After Schlechter, 1911-1914)
Colours: Flower outside greenish yellow, petals outside tinged reddish, lip whitish, anther yellowish with purple humps.
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: 57-165M.JPG
Cultivation: Intermediate growing epiphyte, keep in shade.