Thelasis sphaerocarpa (Schltr.) J.J.Sm., Nova Guinea 12, 4 (1916) 430, pl. 162, fig. 305
Basionym: Phreatia sphaerocarpa
Epiphytic, erect, stemless or almost stemless, 6-9 cm high; roots filiform, elongated, flexuose, glabrous. Leaves 6-8, distichous, erect-patent, linear-oblong, apex unequally bilobulate, glabrous, subcoriaceous, 4-7 by 0.5-0.8 cm; leaf-sheaths clasping, 0.6-1 cm long. Inflorescence erect, as long as the leaves or longer, with 3-4 small, distant acuminate, peduncle-scales; rachis laxly 5-15-flowered. Floral bracts ovate-lanceolate, acuminate, minute, much shorter than the ovary. Flowers not resupinate, patent or pendent. Sepals, ovate-lanceolate, acuminate, glabrous, 0.25 cm long. Lateral sepals oblique, dilated along the front margins towards the base. Petals obliquely lanceolate-ligulate, acuminate, a little shorter than the sepals. Lip at the base oblong, concave, 3-lobed; lateral lobes short, obtuse; mid-lobe elongated, ovate, obtuse, much longer than the lateral lobes; lip in total 0.25 cm long, to the tips of the lateral lobes 0.2 cm long, with two swollen, decurrent lines extending from the base to the margins of the mid-lobe. Column short; rostellum and clinandrium minute. Anther cordate, in front acuminate; pollinia 8; stipe very slender, narrowly linear, twice as long as the pollinia. Ovary pedicellate, clavate, 0.25 cm long, glabrous. Fruit subglobose. (After Schlechter, 1905)
Colours: Flower whitish.
Habitat: Epiphyte in primary and secondary forest; 25 to 1433 m.
Flowering time in the wild: Flowering observed in every month of the year.
Distribution: Malesia (New Guinea).
Distribution in New Guinea: Papua (Indonesia); Papua New Guinea. See map: 686-41M.JPG.