Liparis nebuligena Schltr., Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. Beih. 1 (1911) 212
Type: Schlechter 16961 (syn B, lost; iso BO, E, K, L, MO, NSW, S); 19514 (syn B, lost); 20112 (syn B, lost)
Epiphytic, small, 7-12 cm high. Rhizome elongated, decumbent, slender, branched; roots filiform, elongated, flexuose, glabrous. Pseudobulbs 1-2 cm apart, slender, stem-like, somewhat swollen at the base, somewhat laterally compressed towards the apex, 1-leaved, 1-1.5 cm long, above the base up to 0.4 cm diam. Leaf erect, linear, acute or apiculate, somewhat narrowed towards the base, 5-10 cm long, near the middle 0.3-0.4 cm wide. Inflorescence erect, slender, ancipitous, without peduncle-scales, glabrous, almost as long as the leaf; rachis distichous, densely 6-15-flowered, up to 1.5 cm long. Floral bracts ovate, acuminate, distichous, overlapping, laterally conduplicate, a half to a third as long as the pedicellate, ovary. Flowers erect-patent, glabrous. Sepals reflexed, oblong, apiculate, c. 0.45 cm long. Median sepal narrow. Lateral sepals oblique, broader. Petals erect, subfalcate-oblique, linear-subspathulate, subacute, somewhat shorter than the sepals. Lip at the base subquadrate, geniculate-decurved, narrowed below the middle and prolonged into a lanceolate, acute lobed, whole lip as long as the petals, at the base hardly more than 0.2 cm wide, underneath with keel-like thickened mid-vein, at the base inside with a large quadrate callus, in front of this with a smaller bifid callus. Column short, broad, conspicuously dilated towards the base, hardly more than half as long as the lip, glabrous. Anther suborbicular-quadrate, glabrous. Ovary with pedicel slender, glabrous, c. 0.8 cm long. (After Schlechter, 1911-1914)
Colours: Flowers bright deep salmon-red to orange-red, the scape and bracts tinged orange-red.
Habitat: Epiphyte in montane forest; 700 to 1500 m.
Flowering time in the wild: May, September, November, December.
Distribution: Malesia (New Guinea, endemic).
Distribution in New Guinea: Papua New Guinea. See map: 416-314M.JPG.
Cultivation: Intermediate growing epiphyte.