Taeniophyllum brachypus Schltr., Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. Beih. 1 (1913) 1022
Type: Schlechter 17826; 17855; 18071; 18349 (B, lost)
Epiphyte without leaves. Roots flattened, flexuose, up to 30 cm long, 0.2-0.3 cm wide. Inflorescence densely many-flowered, distichous, with a short or very short peduncle, glabrous, 0.7-1.5 cm long. Floral bracts deltoid, minute, much shorter than the ovary. Flowers glabrous. Sepals oblong-ligulate, obtuse, 0.4 cm long. Lateral sepals oblique. Petals similar to but a little shorter than the sepals, somewhat obtuse, oblique. Lip ovate, as long as the petals, obtuse, with fleshy-thickened apex, in the middle near the base with a cuneate pit; spur oblongoid, obtuse, at the base somewhat narrowed, a little shorter than the lip, straight. Column very short, glabrous; rostellum hammer-shaped. Anther rounded-cucullate, linear-rostrate; pollinia obliquely ellipsoid; stipe 4 times longer, thin and slender, widened at the apex; viscidium linear, large. Ovary glabrous, subsessile, 0.3 cm long. (After Schlechter, 1911-1914)
Colours: Flower golden yellow, spur whitish.
Habitat: Epiphyte in lowland forest; 100 to 600 m.
Flowering time in the wild: June, July, October.
Distribution: Malesia (New Guinea).
Distribution in New Guinea: Papua New Guinea. See map: 676-23M.JPG.
Cultivation: Warm growing epiphyte.