Eria micholitziana

Eria micholitziana Kraenzl., Notizbl. Bot. Gart. Berlin-Dahlem 3 (1900) 21

Type: Berlin cult. (Micholitz) s.n. (New Guinea) (holo B, lost)

Stems several, crowded, to 40 cm high, 1-1.5 cm thick, with several internodes, 8- to 9-leaved at the apex, glabrous, internodes 2.5-4 cm long, the upper ones shorter, leafy when flowering. Leaves lanceolate, acuminate, 10-15 by 2.5-3.5 cm. Racemes few-flowered, slightly zigzag, rachis green-brown-furfuraceous or villose. Floral bracts very small, ovate, obtuse, concave, in the basal part at anthesis reflexed, outside rough, inside brown-villose, much shorter than the ovary. Flower 0.8 cm long. Median sepal ligulate, obtuse, concave. Lateral sepals ovate, glabrous inside; mentum obtuse, hardly curved. Petals broadly oblong, obtuse, a little smaller than the sepals. Lip very shortly clawed, in outline almost orbicular, 0.4-0.5 cm long and wide, in front indistinctly 3-lobed, inside with three raised lines, the lateral ones basally thickened, all three thicker in front, the central one terminating in an apiculum, along their whole length, especially in the apical part densely papillose, the lip otherwise glabrous. Column rather long, dilated in the apical part. Ovary with pedicel 3 cm long, villose.-Flowers outside green-brown, petals white, in the middle with purple lines, lip white suffused with violet. (After Kraenzlin, 1911).

Habitat: Not known.

Flowering time in the wild: Not known

Distribution: Malesia (New Guinea, endemic).

Distribution in New Guinea: Papua New Guinea.

Note: The occurence of a species of section Bambusifolia in New Guinea appears doubtful.

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