Octarrhena salmonea P.Royen, Alp. Fl. New Guinea 2 (1979) 737, fig. 254
Type: Brass 30938 (holo CANB; iso L)
Erect or decumbent epiphyte, 22-52 cm high. Stems unbranched, flexuose, terete, glabrous, only in upper part with leaves and inflorescences. Leaves erect to patent, slightly fleshy, glabrous, lanceolate-ensiform, 2.5-4 by 0.1-0.15 cm, acute and dorsoventrally flattened at the very tip, 2-nerved. Inflorescences 3.5-7 cm long, 15-22-flowered. Peduncle glabrous, slender, 0.8-1.5 cm long, 3-winged, with 1 scale about halfway; rachis glabrous, flexuose, 2.7-5.5 cm, 3-winged. Floral bracts glabrous, narrowly ovate, 0.25-0.3 cm long, acute, 1-nerved. Sepals patent, connate and conduplicate at base, broadly cordate-ovate, 0.12-0.16 by 0.15-0.19 cm, obtusely cuspidate, turgid, 1-nerved, the nerve crested on outside, with a few coarse papillae along margins and sometimes on the outside of the crest, otherwise glabrous. Lateral sepals slightly larger and more oblique than the median sepal. Petals minute, densely pilose, heart-shaped, 0.5 by 0.3 mm, obtuse. Lip densely pilose on inside only, ovate-ligulate, 0.12-0.15 by 0.05 cm, obtuse, 1-nerved. Column short and stout, 0.2 mm high, inflated in basal part, densely pilose; stelidia absent. Anther widely trapezoid, 0.5 by 0.2 mm, subtruncate at the apex, 2-lobed at the base. Pollinia 8, unequal, bean-shaped, 0.2-0.3 mm long. Pedicel glabrous, 0.2-0.5 mm long; ovary glabrous, obliquely obovoid-clavate, 0.3-0.35 by 0.12-0.15 cm, 6-ribbed. Fruit obliquely clavate, 0.32-0.35 cm long, 6-ribbed. (After van Royen, 1979)
Colours: Flowers salmon pink or orange.
Habitat: Epiphyte in mossy forest; 2200 to 3040 m.
Flowering time in the wild: January, August, September, November.
Distribution: Malesia (New Guinea, endemic).
Distribution in New Guinea: Papua New Guinea. See map: 486-47M.JPG.
Cultivation: Cool growing epiphyte.