Microtatorchis bryoides Schltr., Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. Beih. 1 (1913) 1007
Type: Schlechter 19002 (holo B, lost)
Epiphytic, very small, 1.5-4.5 cm high, stemless. Roots filiform, glabrous. Leaves 2-3, erect-patent, lanceolate, acuminate, 0.7-1.2 cm long, in the middle 0.2-0.3 cm wide. Inflorescence carrying flowers up to above the base, rather laxly 7-20-flowered. Floral bracts leaf-like, lanceolate, setaceous-acuminate, equalling the flowers, at the base on either side with a bristle-like appendage. Flowers very small, glabrous. Sepals and petals ovate-lanceolate, acuminate, in basal fourth in connate into a tube. Lateral sepals oblique, the sepals 0.3 cm long, the petals a little shorter. Lip in outline rhombic, acuminate, 3-lobed near the middle; lateral lobes short, obtuse; mid-lobe ovate, acuminate with the apex somewhat incurved, as long as the petals, at the base with a bilobed concavity extending up to the base of the lateral lobes; spur obovoid, with four humps, half as long as the lip. Column very short, bilobed. Ovary 6-ribbed, with dentate ribs, 0.15 cm long. (After Schlechter, 1911-1914)
Colours: Flowers green.
Habitat: Epiphyte in lower montane forest; 1100 m.
Flowering time in the wild: December.
Distribution: Malesia (New Guinea, endemic).
Distribution in New Guinea: Papua New Guinea. See map: 449-6M.JPG.
Cultivation: Intermediate growing epiphyte.