Liparis trachyglossa Schltr., Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. Beih. 1 (1911) 217
Type: Schlechter 20338 (holo B, lost; iso BO, K, L 2x, NSW, S)
Epiphytic, erect, slender, up to 35 cm high. Rhizome decumbent, elongated, flexuose; roots filiform, elongated, flexuose, becoming glabrous with age. Pseudobulbs 2-2.5 cm apart, swollen at the base, stem-like narrowed, laterally compressed, 2.5-3.5 cm long, above the base up to 0.4 cm diam., 1-leaved. Leaf erect, linear, acute or subacuminate, gradually somewhat narrowed towards the base, glabrous, 20-30 cm long, near the middle 0.5-0.9 cm wide. Inflorescence erect, very slender, ancipitous, without peduncle-scales, often somewhat shorter than the leaf; rachis densely many-flowered, ancipitous, up to 4.5 cm long. Floral bracts erect-patent, two-ranked, overlapping, ovate, acuminate, half as long as the ovary or less. Flowers subpatent. Sepals reflexed, ovate, apiculate, outside thickened along the mid-vein, glabrous, c. 0.6 cm long. Lateral sepals oblique, about oblong. Petals erect, oblique, sublinear-spathulate, obtuse, glabrous, about as long as the sepals. Lip at the base broadly quadrate, geniculate-decurved, as long as the petals, at the base almost 0.3 cm wide, above the middle gradually ovate-narrowed, at the apex subobtuse with a short apiculum, in apical half inside papillose-rough, at the base with a large, subquadrate, obtusely apiculate callus, in front of this with two smaller obliquely conical calli. Column suborbicular, clinandrium contracted, a third long as the petals, glabrous. Anther subquadrate, broadly obtuse, in front with two indistinct keels, glabrous. Ovary and pedicel glabrous, c. 1 cm long. (After Schlechter, 1911-1914)
Colours: Flowers greenish yellow.
Habitat: Epiphyte in lower montane forest; 800 m.
Flowering time in the wild: September.
Distribution: Malesia (New Guinea, endemic).
Distribution in New Guinea: Papua New Guinea. See map: 416-477M.JPG.
Cultivation: Intermediate growing epiphyte.