Eria ledermannii

Eria ledermannii Schltr., Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 58 (1923) 125

Type: Ledermann 8616 (holo B, lost)

Epiphytic, erect, 25-35 cm high, stout. Rhizome very short. Roots slender, thin, minutely puberulous. Pseudobulbs cylindrical-fusiform, 6-10 by 1.5 cm, apex 3-4-leaved, erect or suberect, carnose. Leaves erect-patent or suberect, narrowly lanceolate or lanceolate-ligulate, 14-27 by 1.8-3 cm, rather obtuse, gradually narrowed towards the base, glabrous. Racemes erect, lateral, arising near the apex of the pseudobulbs, densely many-flowered, shorter than the leaves, shortly pedunculate. Floral bracts pendent, elliptic, subacute, covered with minute stellate hairs. Flowers erect-patent, thin textured. Sepals oblong, 0.6 cm long, obtuse, outside sparsely covered with stellate hairs, lateral sepals oblique, at the base along the front margin widened; mentum 0.4 cm long, obtuse. Petals obliquely oblong-ligulate, 0.55 cm long, obtuse, glabrous, almost as long as the sepals but distinctly narrower. Lip in outline quadrate-oblong, 0.55 by 0.35 cm, to above the middle with two ribs, glabrous, in apical third 3-lobed, lateral lobes very short and obtuse, hardly developed, mid-lobe obreniform, in front emarginate, minutely apiculate, lip in total almost as long as the petals Column 0.3 cm long, glabrous, semiterete. Ovary with pedicel slender, 1 cm long, covered with stellate hairs. (After Schlechter, 1923).

Colours: Flowers yellow.

Habitat: Epiphyte in lowland forest. Altitude 100 m.

Flowering time in the wild: September.

Distribution: Malesia (New Guinea, endemic).

Distribution in New Guinea: Papua New Guinea. See map: 282-390M.JPG

Cultivation: Warm growing epiphyte.

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