Glomera myrtillus

Glomera myrtillus (Schltr.) Schuit. & de Vogel, Blumea 38 (2003) 511

Basionym: Ischnocentrum myrtillus

Epiphytic, slender, very small, much branched, up to 7-15 cm high; rhizome very short, roots filiform, elongated, flexuose, glabrous; stems and branches slender, thinly terete, leafy, entirely covered by the leaf-sheaths; leaves oblong or elliptic-oblong, apex oblique and minutely apiculate, at the base subpetiolate-narrowed, glabrous, 0.5-0.9 cm long, near the middle 0.2-0.35 cm wide; sheaths closely appressed, up to 0.8 cm long, densely covered with very small warts, apical margins fimbriate-ciliate with several small setae. Flowers at the apices of the branches, solitary, erect, glabrous. Spathe closely appressed to the ovary, elliptic, apiculate, sparsely verruculose, about half as long as the ovary. Floral bract very small, smaller than the spathe. Sepals patent. Median sepal elliptic, obtuse, 0.5 cm long. Lateral sepals obliquely oblong, shortly apiculate, as long as the median sepal. Petals similar to the lateral sepals but somewhat narrower and shorter. Lip flat, suborbicular-ovate, obtusely apiculate, at the base subcordate, 0.25 cm long and wide, spur filiform, narrowly obtuse, appressed to and as long as the ovary, 0.7 cm long. Column short, without a foot, clinandrium well developed, lobulate, rostellum triangular, low. Anther broadly cucullate, glabrous, in front distinctly truncate, dorsally with an obtuse umbo; pollinia obliquely pyriform, laterally somewhat compressed, viscidium rounded, single. Ovary slender, cylindrical, glabrous, 1.6 cm long; fruit fusiform, terete, 1.2 cm long, almost 0.2 cm diameter. (After Schlechter, 1911-1914, as Ischnocentrum myrtillus Schltr.)

Colours: Leaves usually brownish, sometimes reddish. Flower dark salmon-brown.

Habitat: Epiphyte in montane forest. Altitude 400-1000 m.

Flowering time in the wild: March, October.

Distribution: Malesia (New Guinea, endemic).

Distribution in New Guinea: Papua New Guinea. See map: 322-155M.JPG

Cultivation: Intermediate growing epiphyte.

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