Eria rhodoleuca Schltr., Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. Beih. 1 (1912) 671
Type: Schlechter 16210 (holo B, lost; iso AMES, BO, E, G, K, L, NSW, S)
Epiphyte, erect or often patent, up to 60 cm long; rhizome very short, roots thin, filiform, elongated, flexuose, very minutely puberulous; stems unbranched, somewhat curved, leafy, entirely covered by the closely appressed leaf-sheaths, 0.5-0.6 cm diameter; leaves erect-patent, obliquely linear, subacute, glabrous, 6-11 cm long, near the middle 0.6-1.2 cm wide, slightly carnose. Inflorescences 1-flowered, short; bracts and peduncle-scales lanceolate, acute, slightly more than half as long as the ovary. Flowers glabrous. Sepals oblong, obtuse, 1.3 cm long. Lateral sepals oblique, at the base lobed-dilated along the front margins, mentum inflated, broadly obtuse, 0.7 cm long. Petals obliquely falcate-oblong, broadly obtuse, somewhat narrowed towards the base, somewhat shorter than the sepals. Lip at the base very broadly cuneate, in front 3-lobed, 1 cm long, when flattened 1.1 cm wide below the apex, with a longitudinal thickened band of ridges, which is 3-dentate at the free apex, with the median tooth subulate, extending from the base of the lip near the base of the mid-lobe, lateral lobes semioblong, obtuse, mid-lobe subreniform-semiquadrate, shortly and obtusely bilobulate about as long as the lateral lobes. Column short, column-foot at apex wit a 3-lobulate callus, lateral lobes of the clinandrium rounded, median lobe almost obtuse, shorter. Anther reniform-cucullate, glabrous, broadly obtuse. Ovary sessile, glabrous, 1.2 cm long. (After Schlechter, 1911-1914)
Colours: Flower white, lip with red lateral lobes, coluimn-foot at the apex with a yellow callus.
Habitat: Epiphyte in lowland forest. Altitude 200 m.
Flowering time in the wild: June.
Distribution: Malesia (New Guinea, endemic).
Distribution in New Guinea: Papua New Guinea. See map: 282-637M.JPG
Cultivation: Warm growing epiphyte.