Cryptostylis sororia

Cryptostylis sororia Schltr., Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. 16 (1919) 104

Type: Kempter s.n. (Kaiser Wilhelmsland, area behind Vanimo) (holo B, lost)

Terrestrial, erect, 18-20 cm high. Roots fascicled, somewhat carnose, villose. Leaves basal, usually 2, erect, petiolate, blade ovate-oblong, acuminate, almost round at the base, glabrous, 4.5-6.5 cm long, near the middle 1.8-2.8 cm wide; petiole grooved, 2-3 cm long. Inflorescence erect, slender, with a few (2-3) small, distant, clasping, acuminate scales, terete, glabrous; rachis erect, rather densely 5-7-flowered, up to 3 cm long. Floral bracts erect-patent, lanceolate, acuminate, usually more than half as long as the ovary. Flowers not resupinate. Sepals patent, linear-ligulate, acute, 0.95 cm long, margins revolute. Lateral sepals oblique. Petals patent, obliquely linear, subacute, somewhat dilated towards the base, 0.7 cm long. Lip erect, at the base reniform-cucullate, margins papillose-puberulous, strongly contracted and elongated into a spathulate-ligulate or spathulate-oblong, rather obtuse, inside densely papillose, outside glabrous blade, lip 1 cm long, when flattened at the base 0.45 cm wide, in basal third scarcely 0.2 cm wide, in apical third 0.3 cm wide, on the hypochile with a double keel decurrent towards the base. Column very short, rather thick. Ovary subsessile, glabrous. 0.7 cm long. (After Schlechter, 1919).

Colours: Not recorded.

Habitat: Terrestrial, probably in montane forest.

Flowering time in the wild: Not known

Distribution: Malesia (New Guinea, endemic).

Distribution in New Guinea: Papua New Guinea. See map: 192-34M.JPG

Cultivation: Terrestrial, proably requires a shaded position.

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