Ceratostylis breviclavata J.J.Sm., Nova Guinea 18 (1935) 29, pl. 7, 16
Type: Docters van Leeuwen 10266 (holo L; iso BO)
Rhizome very short, branched; roots thin, coarsely pilose. Stems crowded, terete, carnose, 6.25-11.5 cm long, 0.16 cm diam., 1-leaved; basal sheaths tubular, gradually pointed, often apiculate, prominently veined, sparsely laxly reticulate-veined, overlapping, the upper ones larger, to 2 cm long. Leaf erect, terete, when dried apex narrowly obtuse or rather sharply conical, above somewhat flattened and weakly grooved with somewhat convex sides, 3.5-4.5 cm long; sheath short, somewhat constricted, tubular at the base, 0.2 cm long. Inflorescence fasciculate, surrounded by a few acuminate, pointed, prominently veined scales; peduncle 0.2 cm long, 1-flowered, with a few tubular scales. Flowers 0.26 cm wide, about 0.4 cm long. Sepals dorsally especially near the base and the mentum sparsely pilose. Median sepal continuous with the ovary, apex recurved, oblong, obtuse, somewhat concave, 3-nerved, 0.23 cm long, about 0.1 cm wide. Lateral sepals with a conspicuous obliquely obovate, inflated-concave lobule decurrent on the column-foot, front margins in the basal part connate, otherwise touching each other, free part divergent, recurved, obliquely ovate, apex narrowed, obtuse or narrowly obtuse, 3-nerved, to the apex of the ovary about 0.2 cm long, in total about 0.3 cm long, free part about 0.1 cm wide; mentum pointing backwards, forming an acute angle with the ovary, at the base shortly contracted, strongly clavate-inflated, slightly surpassing the column-foot, 0.17 cm long, 0.15 cm wide. Petals porrect, appressed to the column, recurved above, obliquely elliptic-lanceolate, acute, 1-nerved, about 0.2 cm long, 0.06 cm wide. Lip spathulate, below the middle curved-recurved, concave, margin incurved, slightly undulate, thin, in basal 2/3 ciliolate, in about the upper 1/3 carnose-thickened, convex below, above only at the apex convex, 3-nerved, with 2 longitudinal, thin, ciliolate keels terminating near the base of the thickened part, in between with an indistinct, longer keel, when flattened in total about 0.3 cm long, claw oblong 0.12 cm long, blade in outline subelliptic, slightly 3-lobulate, 0.2 cm long, 0.13 cm wide, thickened part about 0.1 cm long. Column straight, dorsally compressed, viewed from above in outline oblong-quadrangular, deeply bipartite, arms porrect, parallel, straight, oblong, slightly dilated towards the apex, rounded, in the basal part vertical, in the apical part somewhat twisted and touching each other, inside concave, outside convex. Anther much shorter than the arms, cucullate, transversely subelliptic, about 0.05 cm wide, connective convex, thickened, subquadrangular, with elongated, rounded-truncate apex. Pollinia 8, more or less obliquely obovoid, at the base acute. Column-foot making a sharp angle with the ovary, straight, apex shortly angular-incurved and free from the later sepals, narrowly linear, channeled, about 0.1 cm long. Ovary with pedicel 6-grooved, sparsely puberulous, 0.26 cm long. (After Smith, 1935)
Colours: Flower white, lip yellow.
Habitat: Epiphyte in lowland forest. Altitude 250 m.
Flowering time in the wild: September.
Distribution: Malesia (New Guinea, endemic).
Distribution in New Guinea: Papua (Indonesia). See map: 125-24M.JPG
Cultivation: Warm growing epiphyte.