Eria eriaeoides (F.M.Bailey) Rolfe, Orchid Rev. 17 (1909) 95
Basionym: Dendrobium eriaeoides
Epiphyte, erect, 30 cm high; rhizome decumbent; short; somewhat thickened, densely covered with clasping sheaths; roots thin, filiform, elongated, flexuose, rather inconspicuously papillose; pseudobulbs 1-2 cm distant, cylindrical, covered with large, clasping sheaths, apex bifoliate, 5-7 cm high, near the middle 0.7-1 cm diameter; leaves erect or suberect, narrowly elliptic-lanceolate, acute or subacute, at the base gradually narrowed into the 4-6 cm long petiole, including the petiole 13-24 cm long, blade in the middle 2-2.7 cm wide; Inflorescence arsing laterally near the apex of the pseudobulbs, erect or suberect, rather laxly 10-20-flowered, 4-7 cm long, the short peduncle and rachis stellate-finely tomentose; bracts erect-patent, elliptic, obtuse, as long as or somewhat shorter than the ovary. Flowers erect-patent, usually cleistogamous, closed. Sepals ovate-elliptic, obtuse, outside sparsely stellate-puberulous. Lateral sepals oblique, at the base dilated along the front margins, mentum obtuse, 0.18 cm long. Petals obliquely elliptic-ligulate, obtuse, glabrous, somewhat shorter than the sepals. Lip at the base broadly cuneate, 3-lobed in apical third, 0.3 cm long, between the apices of the lateral lobes 0.3 cm wide, with a median keel extending to the base of the mid-lobe, with two oblique, equally long but thicker lateral keels, lateral lobes divergent, semioblong. obtuse, mid-lobe somewhat longer, triangular-semioblong, obtuse. Column short, glabrous, column-foot short; lobes of the clinandrium very low. Anther reniform-cucullate, in front retuse, dorsally with a swelling, glabrous. Ovary sessile, cylindrical, minutely stellate-finely tomentose, 0.3 cm long. (After Schlechter, 1911-1914, as Eria diphylla Schltr.)
Colours: Flower reddish with yellowish white tips, lip dark red with whitish front lobe.
Habitat: Epiphyte in lowland and montane forest. Altitude 0-2000 m.
Flowering time in the wild: April, June, September, October.
Distribution: Malesia (New Guinea), Australia, Solomon Islands.
Distribution in New Guinea: Papua (Indonesia); Papua New Guinea. See map: 282-232M.JPG
Cultivation: Warm to cool growing epiphyte.