Oberonia alopecurus Schltr., Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. Beih. 1 (1911) 171
Type: Schlechter 16564 (holo B, lost)
Epiphytic, erect, short-stemmed, up to 22 cm high. Rhizome very short; roots filiform, elongated, flexuose, glabrous. Stem short, densely 4-5-leaved, entirely hidden by the leaf-bases, up to 5 cm long. Leaves erect-patent, ligulate, acute, subfalcate-oblique, free part 6-17 cm long, at the base 0.6-1 cm wide. Inflorescence carrying flowers up to the base, densely many-flowered, cylindrical, up to 10 cm long, c. 0.5 cm diam. across the flowers. Floral bracts lanceolate, acuminate, with serrate-dentate margins, almost as long as the ovary, outside sparsely papillose. Flowers patent. Sepals ovate, obtuse, outside with sparse papillae, c. 0.15 cm long. Lateral sepals oblique. Petals obliquely oblong, obtuse, distinctly shorter than the sepals. Lip a little longer than the sepals, above the middle almost 0.2 cm wide, at the base shortly auriculate and subquadrangular, in apical half conspicuously dilated, apex rounded-truncate, retuse in the middle, indistinctly bilobed. Column very short, rather thick, glabrous. Ovary subcylindrical, papillose, 0.15 cm long. (After Schlechter, 1911-1914)
Colours: Flowers orange-brown.
Habitat: Epiphyte in lowland forest; 300 to 450 m.
Flowering time in the wild: April, September.
Distribution: Malesia (New Guinea, endemic).
Distribution in New Guinea: Papua New Guinea. See map: 485-8M.JPG.
Cultivation: Warm growing epiphyte.