Habenaria dryadum Schltr., Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. 3 (1906) 80
Basionym: Habenaria epiphylla
Roots swollen, fusiform. Stem erect, stout, straight, 50-80 cm long, with 6-10 leaves, arranged in a rosette about halfway the stem, lower half of the stem covered with cucullate cataphylls clasping the stem, upper half covered with short-lived, lanceolate, aristulate sheaths. Leaves lanceolate, 12-20 by 3-4 cm, apex acuminate, with a bristle-like mucro. Inflorescence racemose; rachis 10-15 cm long, densely many-flowered. Floral bracts lanceolate, apex aristate-acuminate, a little longer or a little shorter than the ovary. Pedicel with ovary 2 cm long, fusiform. Flowers resupinate, c. 2 cm across. Dorsal sepal ovate, lanceolate, 1 cm by 4 mm, concave, apex acuminate. Lateral sepals deflexed, obliquely ovate-lanceolate, 1.2 cm long, apex gradually narrowing to the acuminate apex. Petals bilobed, posterior lobe erect, narrowly linear-falcate, exceeding than the median sepal, 1.2 cm long, acute, anterior lobe filiform, ascending, 1.8 cm long, flexuose. Lip 3-lobed, spurred; lateral lobes filiform, 2 cm long, flexuose; midlobe narrowly linear, 1.7 cm long, subacute; spur cylindric, 2.3 cm long, slightly widened in apical half. Stigmatophores longer than the antherchannels. Antherchannels short. (After Schlechter, 1905, as Habenaria epiphylla Schltr.).
Colours: Flower greenish.
Habitat: Terrestrial in rain forest or in light shrubby forest. Altitude 400-500 m.
Flowering time in the wild: February, March.
Distribution: Malesia (New Guinea, endemic).
Distribution in New Guinea: Papua (Indonesia); Papua New Guinea. See map: 347-167M.JPG
Cultivation: Warm growing terrestrial, keep in shade.