Renanthera edelfeldtii F.Muell. & Kraenzl., sterr. Bot. Zeitschr. 44 (1894) 460
Type: Edelfeldt s.n. (1884, Port Moresby) (holo B?, lost)
A straggling epiphyte up to 10 m long [usually 1-2 m, fide O'Byrne]. Stems rooting from the nodes, up to 50 cm long, 6 mm in diameter, leafy in apical section. Leaves alternate, oblong, 9-12 by 2.2-2.6 cm, unequally roundly bilobed at apex, articulated to a sheathing base c. 3 cm long. Inflorescence lateral, from near the apex of the stem, emerging through the leaf sheath base, branched, erect, up to 60 cm long, each branch laxly 10-20-flowered, up to 13 cm long; peduncle up to 30 cm long, stout; bracts oblong, obtuse, 3-4 mm long, 1 mm wide. Pedicel and ovary 1.5 cm long; sepals and petals spreading widely. Median sepal oblong-spathulate, 1-1.3 by 0.3 cm. Lateral sepals obliquely spathulate, 1-1.3 by 0.4 cm, slightly twisted. Petals linear-oblong, 0.8-0.9 by 0.2-0.3 cm. Lip 3-lobed; lateral lobes erect, obliquely triangular, 0.2 by 0.2 cm; mid-lobe oblong, reflexed, 0.15 by 0.15 cm, with two ovoid, fleshy calli at the base; spur conical, obtuse, 0.3-0.4 by 0.2-0.25 cm; column 0.3 cm long. (After Lewis & Cribb, 1991, as ‘Renanthera endsfeldtii’)
Colours: Flower deep orange or reddish-orange with darker or red spots, a bright red lip with a creamy-yellow base, and a red column blotched with yellow.
Habitat: Epiphyte in lowland forest and beach forest; 0 to 560 m.
Flowering time in the wild: February, March, May, July.
Distribution: Malesia (Sulawesi, New Guinea), Solomon Islands.
Distribution in New Guinea: Papua (Indonesia); Papua New Guinea. See map: 601-11M.JPG.
Cultivation: Warm growing epiphyte, requires light position.