Liparis miniata

Liparis miniata Schltr., Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. Beih. 1 (1911) 218

Type: Schlechter 19838 (holo B, lost)

Epiphytic, slender. up to 45 cm high. Rhizome decumbent, elongated, slender; roots filiform, elongated, flexuose, glabrous. Pseudobulbs c. 3 cm apart, at the base oblong, upwards narrowed, ancipitous, 2.5-3.5 cm long, above the base up to 0.7 cm diam., 1-leaved. Leaf erect, linear-ligulate, acute, somewhat narrowed towards the base, glabrous, 15-25 cm long, near the middle 0.8-1.3 cm wide. Inflorescence erect, very slender, ancipitous, glabrous, without peduncle-scales, up to 45 cm long (including the rachis); rachis distichous, densely many-flowered, up to 10 cm long. Floral bracts erect-patent, two-ranked, ovate, acuminate, glabrous, overlapping, keeled outside, half to a third as long as the ovary. Flowers patent, glabrous. Sepals reflexed, oblong, obtuse, outside thickened along the mid-vein, 0.65 cm long. Lateral sepals broader, oblique. Petals erect, obliquely sublinear-spathulate, subacute, as long as the sepals. Lip at the base broadly quadrate, geniculate-decurved, broadly oblong, 0.65 cm long, above the base 0.4 cm wide, in the middle 0.85 cm wide, apiculate, at the base with a large, quadrate, obtuse callus, in front of this with two smaller, oblique, obtuse calli. Column orbicular, hardly more than a fourth as long as the petals. Ovary and pedicel very slender, glabrous, c. 2.3 cm long. (After Schlechter, 1911-1914)

Colours: Flowers bright ochre-red.

Habitat: Epiphyte in lower montane forest; 1000 m.

Flowering time in the wild: June.

Distribution: Malesia (New Guinea, endemic).

Distribution in New Guinea: Papua New Guinea. See map: 416-300M.JPG.

Cultivation: Intermediate growing epiphyte.

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