Epiblastus kerigomnensis P.Royen, Alp. Fl. New Guinea 2 (1979) 490, fig. 170
Type: LAE (Stevens & Grubb) 54632 (holo CANB; iso L)
Erect, unbranched, 25-45 cm high, terrestrial herb. Pseudobulbs glabrous, narrowly ovoid-cylindrical, 6-7.5 by 0.7-1 cm, grooved. Sheaths 7-10, glabrous, conduplicate, broadly triangular in the lower ones, more ovate in the apical ones, 0.6-5.5 by 1-2.2 cm, acute, many-nerved. Leaves erect, coriaceous, glabrous, loricate, 17-20 by 1.8-2 cm, acute, mid-rib grooved above, prominent below, lateral nerves many, of which 6-8 on either side of mid-rib stronger developed. Inflorescence about 11, terminal, 3.5-8.5 cm long. Peduncles glabrous, 1.5-7 cm long. Floral bract glabrous, broadly ovate, 0.25-0.3 by 0.15-0.2 cm, acuminate, crested. Pedicel glabrous, 0.2-0.7 cm long. Ovary glabrous, clavate, 1.7-3 cm long, 6-grooved. Flowers glabrous. Median sepal elliptic, 0.5-0.65 by 0.35-0.45 cm, obtuse, 5-nerved, sparsely tuberculate and with grey pellucid dots. Lateral sepals sparsely tuberculate, obliquely triangular, 0.75-0.8 by 0.6-0.75 cm, rather obtuse, 5-nerved. Petals obliquely elliptic-lanceolate, 0.6-0.65 by 0.2-0.25 cm, obtuse, 3-nerved. Lip from a narrow cuneate, 0.3 cm long claw rather sharply curved into a 3-lobed, 0.5 cm long, free apical part, claw 2-auricled at base, grooved in frontal part, blade narrowly ovate, mid-lobe narrowly ovate, 0.25 by 0.12 cm, subacute, at base connected to lateral lobes with a distinct fold, lateral lobes triangular, 0.3 by 0.3 cm, rounded, curved upwards, on inside of apical part of each lateral lobe with a transverse membranous crest, the apical-median part of it gradually passing into the lateral nerves of the 3-nerved mid-lobe, median nerve prominent on underside in basal part of mid-lobe but grooved in apical part. Column short and stout, 0.2-0.3 by 0.15-0.2 cm, 3lobed. Anther cucullate, 4-lobed, 0.18 by 0.15 by 0.13 cm. Pollinia pyriform, 0.05 cm long. Column-foot 0.4 cm long, slender. Capsule not seen. (After Van Royen, 1979).
Colours: Pedicel carmine. Flowers carmine with darker column and base of lip. Pollinia dark purple.
Habitat: Terrestrial in upper montane forest. Altitude 3150 m.
Flowering time in the wild: June.
Distribution: Malesia (New Guinea, endemic).
Distribution in New Guinea: Papua New Guinea. See map: 272-10M.JPG
Cultivation: Cool growing terrestrial.