Appendicula scissosaccus

Appendicula scissosaccus (Gilli) Ormerod, Oasis 2, 3 (2002) 8

Basionym: Cyphochilus scissosaccus

Terrestrial, erect, 30-40 cm (or more) high. Stems unbranched, densely leafy, terete, covered with tightly clasping leaf-sheaths. Leaves erect-patent, linear-lanceolate, apex indistinctly bilobulate, rather obtuse, the mid-vein frequently terminating in a bristle-like apiculum, 5-10 by 0.7-1.2 cm Inflorescences mostly lateral, sometimes terminal, erect-patent, rather laxly several-flowered, 3-5 cm long. Floral bracts lanceolate, about as long as or shorter than the flowers. Median sepal ovate-acuminate, rather obtuse, glabrous, 0.5 by 0.3 cm Lateral sepals similar, but oblique and subacute; mentum obtuse, short. Petals ligulate, rather obtuse, glabrous, almost as long as the sepals but narrower. Lip at the base short, broad, almost linear, margins straight, entire, dilated and finally triangular-rounded, margins crenulate, 0.3 cm long and wide, cucullate, towards the base with two narrowly elliptic appendages. Column short, glabrous, foot short. Anther subreniform, obtusely apiculate. Ovary cylindrical, glabrous, 0.7-1 cm long. (After Gilli, 1983).

Colours: Flowers yellowish-green, lip with pale reddish violet appendages. Column with blackish-violet markings, anther blackish-violet.

Habitat: Terrestrial in montane forest. Altitude 1950 m.

Flowering time in the wild: February.

Distribution: Malesia (New Guinea, endemic).

Distribution in New Guinea: Papua New Guinea.

Cultivation: Cool growing terrestrial.

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