Pterostylis papuana

Pterostylis papuana Rolfe, Bull. Misc. Inform. Kew (1899) 112

Type: Giulianetti s.n. (New Guinea, Mt. Scratchley, 12200 ft) (holo K)

Plant slender, c. 18 cm high. Leaves basal, petiolate, ovate-oblong, subacute, 2.5-3 by 1.1-1.4 cm; petiole 1.3-2 cm long. Peduncle-scales sessile, lanceolate, acute, concave, 2.2-2.7 long, 0.45-0.7 cm wide. Floral bract lanceolate, acute, concave, 2.2-2.5 cm long. Flower solitary. Median sepal oblong-lanceolate, acuminate, incurved, c. 5 cm long. Lateral sepals at the base lanceolate, 2.5 cm long, at the apex caudate-acuminate, 1.5-1.8 cm long. Petals falcate-lanceolate, acute, 2.5 cm long. Lip narrowly lanceolate, acuminate, 2-2.2 cm long; appendix hook-like bent inwards, 0.45 cm long, at the apex brush-like. Column 2.2 cm long; wings axe-shaped, on the apical side extended into a filiformm tooth, at the base produced into an oblong lobe. (After Rolfe, 1899)

Colours: Flower pale green and white suffused with red-brown.

Habitat: Terrestrial in montane forest and subalpine shrubland, also in more open vegetation and sometimes epiphytic on mossy tree ferns, growing close to the crowns; 760 to 3470 m.

Flowering time in the wild: Flowering observed in every month of the year.

Distribution: Malesia (Moluccas, New Guinea), ?Solomon Islands (Bougainville).

Distribution in New Guinea: Papua (Indonesia); Papua New Guinea. See map: 595-108M.JPG.

Cultivation: Cool growing terrestrial, requires shaded to fairly bright position.

Notes: This is a variable entity displaying a broad ecological amplitude; possibly we are dealing with a species complex.

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