Malaxis circea (Ridl.) P.F.Hunt, Kew Bull. 24 (1970) 79
Basionym: Microstylis circea
Plants small, 10-15 cm long. Stem ascending, slender, 5 cm long, to 5-leaved. Leaves widely spaced, ovate, lanceolate, thin-textured, acuminate, 4 by 2 cm, with undulate-crispate margins, at the base a little narrowed; petiole sheathing, 0.5 cm long. Inflorescence very slender, 8 cm long, in the basal half with a few linear scales. Flowers very small, distant, patent. Floral bracts 0.3 cm long, linear, acuminate, deflexed. Flowers 0.35 cm diam. Median sepal oblong, obtuse, erect. Lateral sepals deflexed, oblong, broader than the median sepal. Petals lanceolate-linear, obtuse, recurved, shorter and narrower than the sepals. Lip in outline ovate, margins recurved, on either side with three rather long marginal teeth, at the apex acuminate, tip obtuse, entire, pit large with raised margins; basal auricles narrow, erect, lanceolate, acuminate, c. 2/3 as long as the median sepal. Column short, thick; apical wings oblong, porrect, truncate. Anther very small, ovate, rostrate, broadly retuse. Pedicel and ovary filiform, 0.5 cm long. (After Ridley, 1916)
Colours: Not recorded.
Habitat: Terrestrial in montane forest; 759 to 1669 m.
Flowering time in the wild: Not recorded.
Distribution: Malesia (New Guinea, endemic).
Distribution in New Guinea: Papua (Indonesia). See map: 431-85M.JPG.
Cultivation: Intermediate growing terrestrial, requires shaded position.