Eria feddeana Schltr., Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. Beih. 1 (1912) 654
Type: Schlechter 17509 (holo B, lost; iso L)
Epiphyte, stout, 30-40 cm high; rhizome very short, roots filiform, elongated, flexuose, glabrous; pseudobulbs thick ellipsoid, cylindrical, somewhat compressed, 7-8 cm high, near the middle 2.5 cm wide, apex 3-leaved, at first covered with foliaceous sheaths which soon decay; leaves erect or erect-patent, elliptic-ligulate, acute, at the base gradually narrowed into the rather long petiole, glabrous, coriaceous, 28-34 cm long, above the middle 3.5-4.2 cm wide. Inflorescences arising laterally from the upper half of the pseudobulbs, long pedunculate, densely many-flowered, cylindrical, as long as the leaves, peduncle thinly terete, densely and shortly stellate-puberulous, 15-18 cm long, rachis 15 cm long, 2.5 cm diameter (measured across the flowers); bracts minute, elliptic, obtuse, stellate-puberulous. Flowers outside densely stellate-finely tomentose, inside glabrous. Median sepal oblong, narrowly obtuse, 0.4 cm long. Lateral sepals falcate-oblique, apiculate, 0.3 cm long, at the base strongly lobed-dilated along the front margins; mentum oblongoid, obtuse, 0.45 cm long. Petals subfalcate-linear, obtuse, glabrous; somewhat shorter than the median sepal. Lip in outline narrowly oblong, slightly concave, 0.38 cm long, in the middle 0.13 cm wide, minutely apiculate, in basal fourth somewhat subcucullate-narrowed, above the base inside with a small, low, semiorbicular callus, very minutely papillose inside, margins somewhat undulate. Column short, column-foot ligulate, smooth, lateral lobes of the clinandrium low, obliquely truncate, median lobe small. Anther reniform-cucullate, glabrous, in front 3-lobed. Ovary with pedicel short subclavate, densely stellate-finely tomentose, 1 cm long. (After Schlechter, 1911-1914)
Colours: Flower inside light yellow, outside with brown stellate hairs, lip reddish yellow.
Habitat: Epiphyte in montane forest. Altitude 1100 m.
Flowering time in the wild: March.
Distribution: Malesia (New Guinea, endemic).
Distribution in New Guinea: Papua New Guinea. See map: 282-247M.JPG
Cultivation: Intermediate growing epiphyte.
Note: Possibly not distinct from Eria robusta.