Thrixspermum warianum Schltr., Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. Beih. 1 (1913) 961
Type: Schlechter 19498 (holo B, lost)
Epiphytic, to 15 cm long; roots flexuose, glabrous. Stem rather thick, somewhat flattened, to 13 cm long, densely leafy, entirely covered with the striate leaf-sheaths. Leaves subpatent, oblong-ligulate, unequally and obtusely bilobulate, 7-10 cm long, near the middle 1.9-3 cm wide. Inflorescence laterally flattened, saw-like, only slightly pedunculate, to 8 cm long. Floral bracts conduplicate, falcate-ovate, obtuse, half as long as the ovary. Flowers showy, erect-patent, glabrous. Sepals narrowly lanceolate, acute, 1.7 cm long. Lateral sepals oblique. Petals obliquely linear-ligulate, acute, as long as the sepals. Lip at the base semi-square-saccate, retuse, above the base semiorbicular, 3-lobed at the apex, 1.2 cm long, 0.8 cm wide near the middle; lateral lobes obliquely ovate-triangular, apiculate; mid-lobe twice as long, semioblong, at the swollen apex somewhat incurved; in the basal half of the lip with a square bilobulate appendage; in the base of the sac with a semiglobose, papillose callus. Column short, foot at the apex hollowed out. Anther cucullate, apex minutely bidentate; pollinia obliquely and narrowly oblongoid; stipe much shorter than the pollinia, ovate-triangular; viscidium minute, transverse. Ovary slender, glabrous, c. 1.2 cm long. (After Schlechter, 1911-1914)
Colours: Flowers yellowish; lip with a broad, transverse, red band, basal callus red.
Habitat: Epiphyte in lower montane forest; 900 m.
Flowering time in the wild: May, June.
Distribution: Malesia (New Guinea), Solomon Islands.
Distribution in New Guinea: Papua New Guinea. See map: 690-236M.JPG.
Cultivation: Intermediate growing epiphyte.