Moerenhoutia zeuxinoides

Moerenhoutia zeuxinoides (Schltr.) Schltr., Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 56 (1921) 450

Basionym: Platylepis zeuxinoides

Terrestrial, erect, up to 50 cm high. Rhizome stem-like, decumbent, roots elongated, flexuose, villose. Stem terete, glabrous, leafy to near the middle, above the middle with a few long-clasping, acuminate sheaths. Leaves 5-7, erect-patent, ovate-lanceolate, acuminate, glabrous on both sides, at the base sometimes rounded, sometimes cuneate; blade 4-7.5 cm long, below the middle 2-3.2 cm wide; petiole dilated at the base, clasping the stem, 2-3 cm long. Rachis densely many-flowered, elongated, subsecund, to 13 cm long. Floral bracts erect-patent, lanceolate, acuminate, glabrous, about as long as the ovary. Flowers erect-patent, glabrous. Sepals oblong-ligulate, obtuse, 0.9 cm long; lateral sepals oblique. Petals at the base clawed, obliquely rhombic-oblanceolate, obtuse, along the outer margin in upper third irregularly denticulate, along the inner margin cohering with the median sepal, 0.8 cm long. Lip 0.9 cm long, constricted [at basal third], when not flattened just above the base 0.25 cm wide, just above the middle 0.3 cm wide, at the base globose-inflated, inside at the base with 2 fascicles of subulate, sometimes branched papillae; above the constriction gradually dilated into a cucullate-obovate blade, the latter in front extended in a small, suborbicular, c. 0.15 cm long and wide lobule. Column slender, glabrous, in front without wings; rostellum large, bifid. Anther lanceolate-cucullate, subobtuse, glabrous, at the base cordate. Ovary cylindrical, glabrous, 0.8 cm long.(After Schlechter, 1911-1914)

Colours: Not recorded for the type.

Habitat: Terrestrial in upper montane forest; 1800 to 2800 m.

Flowering time in the wild: March, August, November.

Distribution: Malesia (New Guinea, endemic).

Distribution in New Guinea: Papua New Guinea. See map: 455-13M.JPG.

Cultivation: Cool growing terrestrial, requires shaded position.

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