Ceratostylis culminicola P.Royen, Alp. Fl. New Guinea 2 (1979) 457, fig. 157
Type: Brass 9056 (holo L, wrongly given as 9065 by Van Royen)
Terrestrial, up to 35 cm high herb. Stems glabrous, terete, grooved on the side of the inflorescence. Sheaths glabrous, tubular, 2-6 cm long, subcaudate, ribbed. Leaves coriaceous, glabrous, subulate, 3-4 by 0.2 cm, acute and sometimes falcate at tip, with 2 shallow grooves on either side; leaf-sheath glabrous, tubular, 0.3-0.4 by 0.25-0.4 cm, ribbed. Inflorescences 1 or 2. Subtending scale glabrous, broadly ovate, 0.4 by 0.3 cm, with an up to 0.3 cm long awn at tip, 5-ribbed. Peduncle sparsely pilose, scales glabrous, 2-4, ovate, 0.2-0.3 by 0.15-0.2 cm, acute, 3-nerved. Floral bract slightly larger than peduncle-scales otherwise similar. Pedicel and ovary sparsely antrorse pilose, oblong-clavate, 0.5-0.6 cm long, 6-ribbed, with 3 narrow crest-like ribs alternating with 3 low, rounded ribs. Flowers sparsely pilose on dorsal side of spur and at base of outside of median sepal. Median sepal glabrous but sparsely pilose at base, oblong, slightly ovate at base, 0.5 by 0.15 cm, acute, 3-nerved, mid-rib slightly prominent. Lateral sepals glabrous, obliquely falcate-ovate, 0.4 by 0.2 cm, acute, 3-nerved, at base shortly connate; mentum 0.3 cm long, cylindrical, slightly curved, inflated at tip, grooved on the dorsal side, crested on the opposite side. Petals glabrous, obliquely spathulate-rhombic, 0.45 by 0.15 cm, acute, 3-nerved. Lip spathulate, 0.6 by 0.35 cm, slightly ventricose-sigmoid in lateral view, indistinctly 3-lobed, thickened in apical part, spoon-shaped in median part and narrowed with erect margins in basal part, on inside with 2 narrow crests from the base to almost near the thickened apical part, crested below, scattered puberulous on the two crests and finely ciliate puberulous along central parts of margins only. Column short and stout, 0.15 by 0.15 cm. Arms oblong, 0.15 cm long, rounded and slightly incurved at tip, crested on inside. Anther cucullate, 0.1 by 0.05 by 0.03 cm, apiculate, base rounded, retuse, longitudinally crested above and umbonate near base. Capsule glabrous, ellipsoid, 1 by 0.4 cm, 6-grooved. (After Van Royen, 1979).
Colours: Flowers purple.
Habitat: Terrestrial in upper montane forest in exposed positions. Altitude 3225 m.
Flowering time in the wild: Not known
Distribution: Malesia (New Guinea, endemic).
Distribution in New Guinea: Papua (Indonesia). See map: 125-43M.JPG
Cultivation: Cool growing terrestrial, keep in light position.