Bulbophyllum tenuipes Schltr., Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. Beih. 1 (1913) 757, 1042
Type: Schlechter 20064 (B, lost; AMES); 20220 (B, lost)
Epiphyte, slender, to 35 cm high. Rhizome creeping, flexuose. Roots filiform, flexuose, glabrous. Pseudobulbs 2.5-4 cm apart, conical or conical-cylindrical, glabrous, 1.5-2.5 by 0.3-0.5 cm above the base; 1-leaved. Leaf erect, lanceolate-ligulate, acute, glabrous, 8-12 by 1.5-2 cm in the middle; base narrowed into a petiole 1-1.5 cm long. Inflorescence, ultimately densely many-flowered, very thin, slender, to 35 cm long, with a few distant, small peduncle-scales; rachis distichous, gradually elongating to 6 cm. Floral bracts laterally compressed, acuminate, triangular, 3-4 times shorter than the pedicellate ovary. Flowers opening in succession, glabrous. Sepals lanceolate, strongly acuminate, 2.5 cm long. Lateral sepals oblique, at the base along the lower margin dilated. Petals obliquely elliptic in basal third, 3-lobulate, 0.5 cm long; lateral lobes tooth-like, acute, a bit incised, median lobule much longer, bristle-like. Lip in outline oblong, elongate-acuminate, 1.6 cm long; base on either side at the margin with a very small, falcate, obtuse lobule, in the middle of the base with 2 converging keels, from the base of the lobules to the middle of the lip with two double, converging crests; margins crenulate-incised. Column slender; stelidia short, triangular, acute; column-foot somewhat incurved. Anther reniform-cucullate, umbonate, glabrous. Ovary pedicellate, slender, c. 1.2 cm long. (After Schlechter, 1913)
Colours: Sepals white with red stripes. Petals and lip violet. Column white.
Habitat: Epiphyte in lower montane forest; 800-1200 m.
Flowering time in the wild: September, October.
Distribution: Malesia (New Guinea).
Distribution in New Guinea: Papua (Indonesia); Papua New Guinea; see map 96-1822M.jpg.
Cultivation: Intermediate growing epiphyte.