Microtatorchis potamophila Schltr., Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. Beih. 1 (1913) 999
Type: Schlechter 16310 (holo B, lost); para: Schlechter 19328; 19565 (B, lost)
Epiphytic, very small, stemless, hardly 3-3.5 cm high. Roots filiform, glabrous. Leaves 1-3, erect-patent, oblanceolate, subobtuse, 0.5-1.5 cm long, above the middle 0.2-0.3 cm wide. Inflorescence gradually elongated, flexuose, two to three times longer than the leaves, rather laxly few- or several-flowered. Floral bracts deltoid, 3-a fourth as long as the than the ovary. Flowers minute, glabrous. Sepals and petals up to the middle connate into a bell-shaped tube bell-shaped. Sepals oblong-ligulate, obtuse, 0.2 cm long. Lateral sepals subfalcate-oblique. Petals distinctly shorter than the sepals, free part rhombic, obtuse. Lip along the margins adnate to the sepals and petals to above the middle, at the base cuneate, 3-lobed in apical third, as long as the petals, between the apices of the lateral lobes 0.08 cm wide; lateral lobes patent, triangular, subacute, with incurved front margins; mid-lobe a little larger than the lateral lobes, triangular, margins incurved, apex subobtuse; spur at the base cylindrical, at the apex 5-lobed-inflated, 0.13 cm long, apex hooked-incurved. Column short, glabrous. Anther ovoid-cucullate, obtuse; pollinia obliquely pear-shaped; stipe linear-oblanceolate, as long as the pollinia; viscidium rounded, minute. Ovary subsessile, 3-ribbed, as long as the sepals, glabrous. (After Schlechter, 1911-1914)
Colours: Flowers yellowish green with orange-yellow tips.
Habitat: Epiphyte on small trees in lowland forest; 200 to 300 m.
Flowering time in the wild: April, May, July.
Distribution: Malesia (New Guinea, endemic).
Distribution in New Guinea: Papua New Guinea. See map: 449-39M.JPG.
Cultivation: Warm growing epiphyte.