Liparis ovalis Schltr., Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. Beih. 1 (1911) 202
Type: Schlechter 18056 (holo B, lost; iso BO, L 2x, MO, NSW)
Terrestrial, erect, 15-35 cm high. Rhizome very short; roots filiform, elongated, flexuose, puberulous. Pseudobulbs crowded, laterally compressed, more or less ancipitous, 1.5-3 cm long, 0.6-1 cm diam., 1-leaved. Leaf erect or suberect, elliptic or oblanceolate-elliptic, acute or shortly acuminate, gradually narrowed at the base, glabrous on both sides, veined, 11-24 cm long, at or above the middle 2.5-4.5 cm wide. Inflorescence erect, usually much longer than the leaf, laxly 6-20-flowered, almost secund, peduncle angular, with a few bract-like scales, glabrous. Floral bracts erect-patent, lanceolate, acuminate, about half as long as the ovary. Flowers erect-patent, glabrous. Sepals patent, oblong-ligulate, obtuse, with an obtuse apiculum, c. 1 cm long. Lateral sepals oblique. Petals obliquely and narrowly linear, obtuse, as long as the sepals. Lip at the base shortly constricted, broadly elliptic, as long as the sepals, in the middle almost 0.7 cm wide, with irregular margins, minutely apiculate, entirely glabrous, inside at the base with a small, subquadrate callus. Column slightly curved, 0.5 cm long, glabrous, somewhat dilated towards the apex, indistinctly auriculate, laterally dilated at the base. Anther subreniform, obtuse, glabrous. Ovary slender, glabrous, including the pedicel c. 1 cm long. (After Schlechter, 1911-1914)
Colours: Flowers initially pale creamy yellow, the lip soon becoming more orange-yellow.
Habitat: Terrestrial on limestone cliffs and between limestone rubble, also in leaf litter in lower montane forest; 1100 to 1365 m.
Flowering time in the wild: May, July.
Distribution: Malesia (New Guinea, endemic).
Distribution in New Guinea: Papua New Guinea. See map: 416-340M.JPG.
Cultivation: Intermediate growing terrestrial, requires rather light position.