Taeniophyllum phaeanthum Schltr., Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. Beih. 1 (1913) 1010
Type: Schlechter 18491 (holo B, lost)
Epiphytic, very small, leafless; roots flattened, glabrous, to 7 cm long, c. 1 mm wide. Inflorescences erect, slender-pedunculate, 1-2.5 cm high, laxly few-flowered, glabrous. Floral bracts deltoid, minute, shorter than the ovary. Flowers minute, glabrous. Sepals and petals connate to the middle. Sepals oblong-ligulate, obtuse, almost 0.18 cm long. Lateral sepals oblique. Petals a little shorter than the sepals, free part obliquely ovate. Lip oblong, as long as the petals, along the basal margins slightly dilated, at the apex with a subulate inwards-pointing appendage, in front of the mouth of the spur with a transverse membrane; spur subglobose, almost three times shorter than the ovary. Column very short; rostellum very short; pollinia obliquely obovoid; stipe oblanceolate, slender at the base, about as long as the pollinia; viscidium ovate. Ovary glabrous, subsessile, c. 0.1 cm long. (After Schlechter, 1911-1914)
Colours: Inflorescence, bracts and flowers brown-red.
Habitat: Epiphyte in lowland forest; 150 m.
Flowering time in the wild: October.
Distribution: Malesia (New Guinea).
Distribution in New Guinea: Papua New Guinea. See map: 676-161M.JPG.
Cultivation: Warm growing epiphyte.