Liparis apiculata Schltr., Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. Beih. 1 (1911) 216
Type: Schlechter 16552 (holo B, lost; iso BO, K, L, NSW, S)
Epiphytic, slender, 25-40 cm high. Rhizome decumbent, short; roots filiform, elongated, flexuose, glabrous. Pseudobulbs often crowded, sometimes up to 1 cm apart, at the base ovate, almost ancipitous, stem-like narrowed, 4-8 cm long, basal part 0.7-1 cm diam., 1-1.7 cm long, 1-leaved. Leaf erect or suberect, linear, acute or subacuminate, gradually somewhat narrowed towards the base, glabrous, 20-30 cm long, near the middle 0.6-0.9 cm wide. Inflorescence slender, erect, ancipitous, often somewhat surpassing the leaf, without peduncle-scales, glabrous; rachis densely several- to many-flowered, distichous, up to 6 cm long. Floral bracts erect-patent, two-ranked, almost overlapping, ovate-lanceolate, acuminate, ancipitous-conduplicate, about as long as the pedicellate, ovary. Flowers erect-patent. Sepals reflexed, oblong, apiculate, glabrous, c. 0.65 cm long. Lateral sepals oblique. Petals at the base indistinctly clawed, obliquely obovate-spathulate, obtuse, somewhat shorter than the sepals. Lip at the base broadly quadrate-oblong, geniculate-decurved, as long as the petals, above the base 0.28 cm wide, at the base with a subquadrate, obtuse callus, in front of this with two small, obtuse calli, above the middle gradually narrowed and produced into a subquadrate, distinctly apiculate lobe with two convex, oblong, papillose-puberulous patches. Column pyramidal-trapezoid, a third as long as the petals, rounded at the base, glabrous. Anther suborbicular, broadly obtuse, glabrous. Ovary and pedicel glabrous, c. 1 cm long. (After Schlechter, 1911-1914)
Colours: Flowers bright salmon red.
Habitat: Epiphyte in lower montane forest; 1000 m.
Flowering time in the wild: September.
Distribution: Malesia (New Guinea, endemic).
Distribution in New Guinea: Papua New Guinea. See map: 416-26M.JPG.
Cultivation: Intermediate growing epiphyte.