Microtatorchis flaccida Schltr., Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. Beih. 1 (1913) 1006
Type: Schlechter 18708 (holo B, lost); para: Schlechter 20313 (B, lost)
Epiphytic, very small, stemless, up to 13 cm high. Roots filiform, glabrous. Leaves erect-patent, lanceolate-ligulate, acute, narrowed towards the base, 2.5-4.5 cm long, near the middle 0.4-0.7 cm wide. Inflorescence up to 15 cm long, flaccid, flexuose, laxly many-flowered; peduncle and rachis angular. Floral bracts ovate, acute, a little shorter than the ovary, at the base on either side with a short tooth. Flowers glabrous. Sepals and petals up to the middle connate into a tube, keeled outside, c. 0.65 cm long, free parts lanceolate, acuminate. Lateral sepals oblique. Lip lanceolate, about as long as the sepals, acute, above the base on either side subangular, margins somewhat incurved; spur subglobose, apex with four obtuse humps, 5-6 times shorter than the lip. Column very short, deeply bilobed. Anther cordate-cucullate, obtuse; pollinia obliquely oblongoid; stipe at the base slender, upwards broadly cuneate, about as long as the pollinia; viscidium oblong, small. Ovary triangular in cross-section, sometimes sparsely subdentate, 0.3 cm long. (After Schlechter, 1911-1914)
Colours: Flowers green.
Habitat: Epiphyte in montane forest; 800 to 1800 m.
Flowering time in the wild: September, November.
Distribution: Malesia (New Guinea, endemic).
Distribution in New Guinea: Papua New Guinea. See map: 449-19M.JPG.
Cultivation: Intermediate growing epiphyte.