Oberonia drepanophylla Schltr., Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. Beih. 1 (1911) 174
Type: Schlechter 17339 (holo B, lost)
Epiphytic, erect, several-stemmed, c. 17 cm high. Rhizome very short; roots filiform, elongated, flexuose, glabrous. stems straight or nearly straight, 7-8-leaved, entirely hidden by the leaf-bases. Leaves falcate, lanceolate or lanceolate-ligulate, acute, free part 3-5 cm long, at the base 0.7-0.8 cm wide. Inflorescence densely many-flowered, carrying flowers up to the base, distinctly surpassing the upper leaves, 0.6-0.7 cm diam. across the flowers. Floral bracts lanceolate, acute, dorsally keeled, margins subdentate, about as long as the ovary, glabrous. Flowers patent, glabrous. Sepals broadly ovate or elliptic, obtuse, 0.15 cm long. Petals obliquely oblong-ligulate, obtuse, glabrous, a little shorter than the sepals. Lip a little longer than the sepals, above the middle 0.2 cm wide, glabrous, at the base minutely auriculate and quadrangular, subreniform-dilated, bilobed in apical fourth, lobes semiorbicular, broadly obtuse. Column very short, rather thick, glabrous. Anther subreniform, obtusely apiculate. Ovary cylindrical, glabrous, c. 0.2 cm long. (After Schlechter, 1911-1914)
Colours: Flowers olive-green, lip brown at the base.
Habitat: Epiphyte in lowland and montane forest, also in abandoned rubber plantations; 10 to 900 m.
Flowering time in the wild: February, May, July.
Distribution: Malesia (New Guinea, endemic).
Distribution in New Guinea: Papua New Guinea. See map: 485-99M.JPG.
Cultivation: Warm to intermediate growing epiphyte.
Notes: One of the more common and easily recognised species.