Appendicula isoglossa

Appendicula isoglossa Schltr., Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. Beih. 1 (1912) 356

Type: Schlechter 17500 (holo B, lost)

Epiphyte, erect or patent, up to 70 cm long; rhizome very short, roots filiform, elongated, flexuose, glabrous; stems unbranched, almost straight, thinly terete, densely leafy, entirely covered by the leaf-sheaths, 0.3 cm diameter; leaves erect-patent, oblong-ligulate, obtuse, apex minutely notched with a minute apiculum, 4.5-5.5 cm long, near the middle 1-1.6 cm wide. Inflorescences terminal, paniculate, pedunculate, at the base with several scales, up to 18 cm long, branches rather laxly 10-15-flowered, erect-patent; bracts patent, elliptic, acute, about as long as the ovary. Flowers erect-patent, glabrous. Sepals ovate, narrowly obtuse or subacute, almost 0.3 cm long. Lateral sepals oblique, at the base somewhat dilated along the front margin, mentum short, obtuse. Petals obliquely ovate, narrowly obtusely pointed, glabrous, somewhat smaller than the sepals. Lip in outline ovate, narrowly obtuse, at the base concave, inside at the base with a small, in front bilobed callus, about as long as the sepals, below the middle 0.18 cm wide. Column short, laterally on either side produced in a conical tooth, rostellum shortly triangular, in front of the stigma with a transverse, fleshy, bilobed lamella. Anther broadly ovate-cordate, in front shallowly notched, broadly umbonate, glabrous; pollinia unequal-sized, obliquely clavate. Ovary cylindrical, glabrous, sessile, 0.35 cm long. (After Schlechter, 1911-1914)

Colours: Flower cherry-red.

Habitat: Epiphyte in montane forest in shaded positions. Altitude 1000 m.

Flowering time in the wild: March.

Distribution: Malesia (New Guinea, endemic).

Distribution in New Guinea: Papua New Guinea. See map: 57-92M.JPG

Cultivation: Intermediate growing epiphyte, keep in shade.

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