Zeuxine curvata Schltr., Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 58 (1922) 58
Type: Ledermann 12198 (holo B, lost)
Terrestrial, erect, to 50 cm high. Stem erect or ascending, 5-7-leaved, terete, glabrous. Leaves erect-patent, petiolate; blade obliquely elliptic or broadly ovate, 5-6.5 cm long, near the middle 3.5-4 cm wide, shortly acuminate, base rounded or subcordate, petiole dilated, sheathing at the base, usually a little shorter than the blade, 3.5-4.5 cm long. Inflorescence sparsely glandulose-pilose, with small, distant, acuminate peduncle-scales; rachis rather densely many-flowered, c. 10 cm long, c. 2 cm diam. across the flowers. Floral bracts elliptic-lanceolate, acuminate, as long as the ovary or a little longer. Flowers curved-patent. Sepals ovate, 0.5 cm long, subobtusely acuminate, glabrous. Lateral sepals oblique. Petals obliquely ovate-oblong, 0.5 cm long, subobtusely acuminate, along the inner margin cohering to the median sepal, glabrous. Lip 0.5 cm long, at the base elliptic-cucullate, 0.2 cm wide, above the middle with incurved margins, narrowed into a short claw, in front dilated into a transversely elliptic, 0.13 cm wide, very shortly apiculate blade, near the base with two falcate-triangular scales, inside in the centre with a fairly large oblong swelling. Column 0.3 cm long, in front ovoid, with two large, towards the base dilated lamellae; rostellum bifid, short. Anther broadly ovoid-cucullate, acuminate, glabrous. Ovary cylindrical-fusiform, 0.9 cm long, glabrous, twisted. (After Schlechter, 1922)
Colours: Flower outside brownish, inside white.
Habitat: Terrestrial in montane forest; 2070 m.
Flowering time in the wild: June.
Distribution: Malesia (New Guinea).
Distribution in New Guinea: Papua New Guinea. See map: 732-31M.JPG.
Cultivation: Cool growing terrestrial, requires shaded position.