Bulbophyllum distichum Schltr., Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. Beih. 1 (1913) 757
Type: Schlechter 19367 (holo B, lost)
Epiphyte, slender, to 65 cm high. Rhizome creeping. Roots filiform, flexuose, glabrous. Pseudobulbs conical, 3-4 cm apart, 2-3 by 0.7-1 cm above the base; 1-leaved. Leaf erect, elliptic-ligulate, apiculate, glabrous, 12-15 by 2.7-3.5 cm in the middle; base narrowed into a 2-3 cm long petiole. Inflorescence erect, slender, rigid, with few distant small peduncle-scales, to 65 cm long. Inflorescence densely many-flowered, distichous, to 15 cm long. Floral bracts compressed, triangular, acuminate, 2 times shorter than the pedicellate ovary. Flowers glabrous. Sepals lanceolate, acuminate, 2 cm long. Lateral sepals oblique, at the base dilated along the lower margin. Petals at the base obliquely quadrangular, 3-lobulate, 0.4 cm long; lateral lobes tooth-like, acute, mid-lobe bristle-like, much longer. Lip lanceolate, subulate-acuminate; margins crenate-coarsely dentate; base with two double keels which each merge into one, these converging into one keel in the apical part of the lip; margins at the base on either side with a very small triangular-falcate, acute lobule, above the base with course teeth. Column short; stelidia short, triangular, acute. Anther cucullate, glabrous, in front truncate. Ovary pedicellate, glabrous, c. 1.5 cm long. (After Schlechter, 1913)
Colours: Flowers dull pinkish. Median sepal white to the apex. Column white with a yellow anther.
Habitat: Epiphyte in lowland forest; 450-900 m.
Flowering time in the wild: April, May, July.
Distribution: Malesia (New Guinea).
Distribution in New Guinea: Papua New Guinea; see map 96-532M.jpg.
Cultivation: Warm growing epiphyte.