Mediocalcar bulbophylloides J.J.Sm., Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. 11 (1913) 560
Type: Gjellerup 1110 (holo BO)
Roots apparently glabrous (always?), 0.5 mm thick. Rhizome creeping, sparsely branching, 2 mm thick. Cataphylls of the young shoot 3-4, closely appressed, subacute to acute, glabrous, keeled near the tip. Pseudobulbs suberect to erect, approximate, obliquely conical, 0.6-1 cm long, 3-4 mm across at the base, with the base clasping the rhizome like a saddle. Leaves one per pseudobulb, (sub)petiolate, elliptic (index 2-3), blade 1.8-2.8 cm long, 8-10 mm wide, petiole channelled, 2-3 mm long; glabrous; margin entire; apex obtuse, more or less unequally bilobulate, mucronate, with the mucro slightly longer than the lobules; carnose. Inflorescences solitary or in pairs, synanthous, at the base with an inconspicuous scale 0.5 mm long. Peduncle 15 mm long, at the apex with a triangular bract 1 mm long. Pedicel and ovary 10 mm long. Flowers vase-shaped, slightly oblique, 9.5 mm long. Synsepalum 9 mm long and 8 mm wide when cut open and flattened; free tips only slightly spreading, 3.8-4 mm long, obtuse. Petals linear-subspathulate (index 7.7), 7.7 by 1 mm; apex acute; 2-nerved. Lip 7.3 by 2.5 mm in natural position, the blade broadly ovate when flattened; claw 4.3 by 2 mm, auricles inconspicuous; apex acute, porrect; margins erect, clasping the column; spur shallowly saccate 1 mm deep. Column clavate, 4.5 mm long, foot conspicuous, 1.6 mm long. Fruit (immature) cylindrical, 20 mm long, 1.5 mm across. (After Schuiteman, 1997)
Colours: Flowers red or pink, apparently without contrasting apices.
Habitat: Epiphyte in montane forest; 1800-1900 m.
Flowering time in the wild: April, October.
Distribution: Malesia (New Guinea, endemic).
Distribution in New Guinea: Papua (Indonesia). See map: 436-15M.JPG.
Cultivation: Cool growing epiphyte.
Notes: A distinctive small species, apparently endemic to the Arfak Mountains.