Bulbophyllum arfakianum Kraenzl., Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 34 (1904) 250
Type: Beccari 889 (holo FI)
Rhizome long creeping or climbing. Roots many. Pseudobulbs 2.5 cm apart, ovate, slightly curved, more or less appressed to the rhizome, 2.5-3 by 0.6-0.8 cm at the base, thick; 1-leaved. Leaves thick coriaceous, oblong, obtuse, including the petiole 11.5-5 by 4.5 cm; petiole gradually dilated; apex somewhat bilobed. Inflorescence 1-flowered, straight, as long as the pseudobulb with leaf, with or without one peduncle-scale. Floral bract very small, cucullate. Median sepal oblong, acute, reticulate, 3.5 by 1 cm. Lateral sepals equally long, to the middle connate, dilated, very broad, somewhat narrower, acuminate, reticulate, 3.5 by 1 cm, in front 0.5 cm wide,. Petals very small, lanceolate, 0.2. by hardly 0.1 cm. Lip thick, fleshy, curved, hardly surpassing the petals, 0.2. by hardly 0.1 cm; base cordate, there pilose. Column not described. Pedicel 2.5 cm long. (After Kraenzlin, 1904)
Colours: Plant when dried black. Sepals green, densely spotted purplish-red or violet.
Habitat: Epiphyte in lowland (gallery) forest; 50-550 m.
Flowering time in the wild: April, September, October, November, December.
Distribution: Malesia (New Guinea).
Distribution in New Guinea: Papua (Indonesia); Papua New Guinea; see map 96-136M.jpg.
Cultivation: Warm growing epiphyte.