Microtatorchis erosula J.J.Sm., Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 66 (1934) 211
Type: Mayr 750 (holo ?B, lost)
Plant very small. Stem 0.2-0.4 cm long, 4-5-leaved; roots elongated flexuose. Leaves narrowly lanceolate, narrowed towards the base, apiculate, grooved along the mid-rib above, keeled below, apparently not articulated, 0.9-1.9 by 0.13-0.28 cm; sheaths tubular, apex channelled, when dried membranous, prominently veined. Inflorescence few-flowered (?); peduncle thin, angular, 0.85-1.4 cm long, rachis narrowly finely erose or irregularly denticulate-winged, 0.45-0.6 cm long (or more ?), internodes c. 0.2 cm long. Floral bracts widely patent, triangular, acute, concave, keeled, somewhat erose along the keel and margins, with the keel winged-decurrent on the rachis, distinctly shorter than the pedicellate ovary, at the base on either side with an erect, subulate, dorsally keeled, shorter appendage. Flowers c. 5 (or more?), very small, c. 0.32 cm long. Sepals and petals channelled, 1-nerved, in the basal part connate into a tube that is split on the underside, when flattened about 0.24 cm long, 0.2 cm wide. Median sepal 0.24 cm long, free part linear-subulate, apex conduplicate, narrowly obtuse, 0.15 cm long, almost 0.05 cm wide. Lateral sepals 0.23 cm long, free part similar to the median sepal but somewhat oblique. Petals slightly more than 0.2 cm long, free part at the base subovate-triangular, linear-narrowed towards the apex, 0.13 by 0.04 cm, apex conduplicate, narrowly obtuse. Lip saccate, porrect, concave, convex below, apex very shortly slightly recurved, without hair-like appendage, in total .0.25 cm long, up to apex of the ovary 0.2 cm long, when flattened at the base suborbicular, with two small transverse, slightly curved keels, bilobed-concave, contracted above the base, triangular-subulate-produced, apex acuminate; spur saccate, short, pointing backwards, obliquely subglobose, base constricted, apically obliquely inflated, c. 0.06 cm long, 0.07 cm diam. Column short, stelidia contained in the concavity of the lip, straight, oblong, concave. Anther cucullate, produced into a short obtuse beak. Pollinia 2, broadly elliptic, compressed; stipe at the base linear, cuneate-triangular dilated; viscidium conspicuous, lanceolate. Ovary 6-ribbed, pedicellate, 0.18 cm long. Fruit crowned by the dried flower, curved, subcylindrical, 6-ribbed, 0.68 cm long, 0.18 cm diam.; pedicel 0.08 cm long. (After Smith, 1934)
Colours: Not recorded.
Habitat: Epiphyte in montane forest; 800 to 1500 m.
Flowering time in the wild: January.
Distribution: Malesia (New Guinea, endemic).
Distribution in New Guinea: Papua New Guinea. See map: 449-15M.JPG.
Cultivation: Intermediate growing epiphyte.