Microtatorchis brachyceras Schltr., Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. Beih. 1 (1913) 1003
Type: Schlechter 20101 (holo B, lost)
Epiphytic, very small, stemless, 2-3 cm high. Roots filiform, glabrous. Leaves 2-3, ligulate, acute, 1.2-1.8 cm long, near the middle 0.25-0.35 cm wide. Inflorescence erect-patent, laxly 4-10-flowered, more or less surpassing the leaves, angular, with muriculate-rough-prickly angles; rachis flexuose. Floral bracts lanceolate, acute, at the base on either side with a tooth. Flowers glabrous. Sepals and petals in basal third connate into a bell-shaped tube, lanceolate, acuminate, keeled outside. Sepals 0.5 cm long. Lateral sepals oblique. Petals oblique, 0.4 cm long. Lip lanceolate, about as long as the sepals, acuminate, at the base concave, in front of the mouth of the spur hollowed out; spur very short, globose. Column deeply bilobed. Anther broadly ovate-cucullate, obtuse; pollinia obliquely oblongoid; stipe at the base slender, upwards obovate-dilated, a little shorter than the pollinia; viscidium oblong, half as long as the pollinia. Ovary 6 ribbed, 0.18 cm long. (After Schlechter, 1911-1914)
Colours: Flowers yellow.
Habitat: Epiphyte in lower montane forest; 900 m.
Flowering time in the wild: September.
Distribution: Malesia (New Guinea, endemic).
Distribution in New Guinea: Papua New Guinea. See map: 449-4M.JPG.
Cultivation: Intermediate growing epiphyte.