Microtatorchis finisterrae

Microtatorchis finisterrae Schltr., Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. Beih. 1 (1913) 1005

Type: Schlechter 19123 (holo B, lost)

Epiphytic, very small, stemless, at anthesis leafless (always?), c. 5 cm high. Roots filiform, glabrous. Inflorescence laxly several-flowered; peduncle and rachis angular. Floral bracts ovate-triangular, acute, a little shorter than the ovary, at the base on either side with a short tooth. Flowers glabrous. Sepals and petals lanceolate-ligulate, subobtuse acuminate, to below the middle connate into a bell-shaped tube, sepals 0.4 cm long. Lateral sepals oblique. Petals oblique, a little shorter. Lip narrowly lanceolate, as long as the petals, acute, with incurved margins, in basal fifth with a bilobed concavity. Column very short, deeply horn-like bilobed. Anther broadly ovate-cucullate, shortly excised; pollinia obliquely oblongoid; stipe about as long as the pollinia, at the base slender, upwards broadly rhombic; viscidium oblong, about as long as the pollinia. Ovary 7-ribbed, c. 0.2 cm long. (After Schlechter, 1911-1914)

Colours: Flowers green.

Habitat: Epiphyte in lower montane forest; 1300 m.

Flowering time in the wild: January.

Distribution: Malesia (New Guinea, endemic).

Distribution in New Guinea: Papua New Guinea. See map: 449-18M.JPG.

Cultivation: Intermediate growing epiphyte.

%LABEL% (%SOURCE%)