Eria kenejiana

Eria kenejiana Schltr., Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. Beih. 1 (1912) 672

Type: Schlechter 18857 (holo B, lost)

Epiphyte, patent, 60 cm long; rhizome very short, roots thin, filiform, elongated, flexuose, very minutely puberulous; stems unbranched, straight or almost straight, densely leafy, entirely covered by the closely appressed leaf-sheaths, 0.7 cm diameter; leaves erect-patent, obliquely linear, subacute, glabrous, slightly carnose, 7-13 cm long, near the middle 0.5-1 cm wide. Inflorescences lateral, 1-flowered; bracts and peduncle-scales somewhat patent, lanceolate, subacute, glabrous, as long as the ovary. Flowers erect-patent, glabrous. Sepals oblong, narrowly obtuse. Median sepal 1.8 cm long. Lateral sepals falcate, shorter than the median sepal, strongly dilated along the front margins, mentum inflated, broadly obtuse, 0.7 cm long. Petals obliquely oblong-ligulate, subfalcate, broadly obtuse, somewhat narrowed towards the base, somewhat shorter than the median sepal. Lip in outline semiorbicular, above the middle 3-lobed, 0.9 cm long, in front 1.3 cm wide, with a median thickened line which in front at the base of the mid-lobe ends in a transverse 3-dentate scale, at the base with two short lateral keels, in front of these, in the middle of the blade, with two very small, obliquely quadrate calli, lateral lobes falcate-oblong, obtuse, mid-lobe subquadrate, in front shortly 3-lobulate, about as long as the lateral lobes. Column short, column-foot at the apex with a quadrate callus surrounded with minute warts, lobes of the clinandrium rounded, short. Anther transverse, oblongoid-cucullate, glabrous. Ovary sessile, cylindrical, 1.2 cm long. (After Schlechter, 1911-1914)

Colours: Flower white, lip with pink lateral lobes, column-foot with a yellow basal callus and small brown warts.

Habitat: Epiphyte in lowland forest. Altitude 200 m.

Flowering time in the wild: Not known

Distribution: Malesia (New Guinea, endemic).

Distribution in New Guinea: Papua New Guinea. See map: 282-351M.JPG

Cultivation: Warm growing epiphyte.

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