Ceratostylis acutilabris J.J.Sm., Meded. Rijks-Herb. 23 (1915) 6
Type: Janowsky 356 (not BO)
Stems closely spaced, terete, 15-21 cm long, 0.22-0.24 cm diam.; sheaths basal, overlapping, membranous, becoming larger upwards. Leaf erect, subulate, terete, above obtusely angled channelled, carnose, 0.22-0.26 cm diam., sheath short. Inflorescences several, fascicled, short, 1-flowered, peduncles short, 0.15 cm long, entirely covered with small, upwards becoming larger, overlapping, ovate-orbicular, obtuse, concave, glabrous, thinly membranous, to 0.4 cm long scales that envelope the basal part of the flower. Flower 0.7 cm long. Sepals outside with sparse hairs. Sepals and petals at the base parallel, with recurved apices. Median sepal oblong, narrowed in upper half, subacute, 3-nerved, 0.55 by 0.16 cm. Lateral sepals with an obliquely oblong, concave lobule decurrent on the column-foot, obliquely oblong, obtuse or subapiculate, 3-nerved, 0.4 cm long, in total 0.77 cm long, 0.2 cm wide; mentum pointing backwards, appressed to the ovary, at the apex slightly recurved, obtuse, enveloped by the bract, 0.25 cm long. Petals lanceolate, acute, 1-nerved, 0.35 cm long, 0.1 cm wide. Lip horizontal, wavy, appressed to the column-foot and the column, twice as long as the column, concave, convex underneath, 3-nerved, in basal 3/5 thin-textured and finely ciliate, with two raised, parallel, puberulous lines extending from the base to the middle of the lip, with a third small rib only prominent in the apical part, lip when flattened lanceolate, narrowed towards the base, at the base truncate, in 3/5 above the base contracted, 0.6 cm long, 0.18 cm wide, epichile carnose-thickened, except for the concave base on both sides convex, ovoid-conical, acute, 0.25 cm long. Column in line with the ovary, 2-partite, 0.15 cm long, arms oblong, rounded, outside convex, inside concave. Anther cucullate, suborbicular, at the base 4-lobulate, 0.05 cm wide. Column-foot pointing backwards, appressed to the ovary, much shorter than the mentum, linear, with a small longitudinal rib, at the apex free and incurved, 0.15 cm long. Ovary 6-grooved, subappressed pilose, 0.28 cm long. (After Smith, 1915).
Colours: Flower light carmine red, lip yellow.
Habitat: Epiphyte in montane forest. Altitude 1800 m.
Flowering time in the wild: May, October.
Distribution: Malesia (New Guinea, endemic).
Distribution in New Guinea: Papua (Indonesia); Papua New Guinea. See map: 125-2M.JPG
Cultivation: Intermediate growing epiphyte.