Thrixspermum xantholeucum Schltr. in K.Schum. & Lauterb., Nachtr. Fl. Deutsch. Schutzgeb. Südsee (1905) 234
Type: Schlechter 13719 (holo B, lost)
Epiphytic, ascending, unbranched, to 40 cm long; roots filiform, elongated, flexuose, glabrous. Stem elongated, somewhat flattened, entirely covered with the tightly clasping ancipitous leaf-sheaths, leafy. Leaves erect-patent or patent, narrowly oblong ligulate, obtuse, at the apex shortly and unequally bilobed, glabrous, rather thick, at somewhat contracted; 10-13 by 2-2.8 cm. Inflorescence slender-pedunculate, longer than the leaves, to 21 cm long; peduncle elongated, somewhat flattened, glabrous; rachis flattened. Floral bracts, lax, distichous, falcate-ovate, acute, bilaterally flattened, much shorter than the ovary. Flowers erect-patent. Sepals linear-lanceolate, elongated-acuminate, glabrous, c. 3-5 cm long. Lateral sepals somewhat oblique. Petals very similar to the sepals but a little shorter and narrower. Lip at the base concave, obovate, 3-lobed, 1.2 cm long, from the base to the tips of the lateral lobes 0.7 cm long; lateral lobes ovate, obtuse short; mid-lobe much longer, lanceolate, acute, swollen towards the apex, inside especially towards the base farinose-puberulous; at the very base with a minute linear, acute callus, below the middle with a second, very small, bilobulate callus. Column short. Anther rounded, frontal truncate; pollinia obliquely oblong; stipe broadly linear, as long as the pollinia; viscidium transverse, very narrowly crescent-shaped. Ovary glabrous, subcylindrical, 2 cm long. Fruit cylindrical, c. 20 cm long, 0.6 cm diam. (After Schlechter, 1905)
Colours: Flower yellowish white.
Habitat: Epiphyte in the lowlands; 40 m.
Flowering time in the wild: November.
Distribution: Malesia (New Guinea).
Distribution in New Guinea: Papua New Guinea. See map: 690-240M.JPG.
Cultivation: Warm growing epiphyte, requires light position.