Taeniophyllum cochleare Schltr., Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. Beih. 1 (1913) 1012
Type: Schlechter 17129 (syn B, lost); 18035 (syn B, lost)
Epiphytic, small, leafless; roots flattened, strongly flexuose, to 7 cm long, c. 0.15 cm wide. Inflorescence erect, slender, rather laxly few-flowered, c. 5 mm [cm?] high. Floral bracts minute, deltoid. Flowers very small, glabrous. Sepals oblong, subobtuse, c. 0.3 cm long. Lateral sepals oblique. Petals similar to the sepals, subobtuse, oblique, almost as long as the sepals. Lip ovate-elliptic, obtuse, spoon-shaped, towards the apex with slightly incurved margins, entire, about as long as the sepals, at the base very shortly subsaccate-concave. Column very short; rostellum fairly long, beak-shaped. Anther subreniform-cucullate, obtuse; pollinia obliquely obovoid; stipe thin with the apex somewhat dilated, almost three times longer than the pollinia; viscidium oblong. Ovary subsessile, glabrous, 0.15 cm long. (After Schlechter, 1911-1914)
Colours: Flowers brown-red, sepals and lip whitish with red median band.
Habitat: Epiphyte in lower montane forest; 1000 m.
Flowering time in the wild: January, July.
Distribution: Malesia (New Guinea).
Distribution in New Guinea: Papua New Guinea. See map: 676-38M.JPG.
Cultivation: Intermediate growing epiphyte.