Oberonia aurea Schltr. in K.Schum. & Lauterb., Nachtr. Fl. Deutsch. Schutzgeb. Südsee (1905) 109
Type: Schlechter 14673 (holo B, lost)
Epiphytic erect, 8-12 cm high. Roots filiform, flexuose, smooth. Stems nearly straight, at the very base with a few cataphylls, densely 7-9-leaved, entirely covered with the leaf-sheaths. Leaves equitant, erect-patent, subfalcate-lanceolate, 2-4.5 cm long, towards the base 0.5-1 cm wide, acute, sheathing at the base; sheaths ancipitous with connate basal margins. Inflorescence erect, cylindrical, densely many-flowered, 4-6 cm long, 0.4 cm diam. across the flowers. Floral bracts lanceolate, acuminate, almost as long as the ovary. Flowers almost whorled. Sepals ovate, subobtuse, outside sparsely pilose, 0.1 cm long. Lateral sepals somewhat oblique. Petals narrowly oblong-ligulate, obtuse, with very minutely and irregularly serrulate margins, almost as long as the sepals. Lip in outline almost panduriform, 0.15 cm long, at the base concave, cordate-auriculate, somewhat narrowed in the middle, towards the apex dilated, rounded, in apical third with coarsely irregularly dentate margins. Column rather thick. Anther rounded-reniform, in the middle gibbose. Ovary shortly pedicellate, , c. 0.1-0.15 cm long. (After Schlechter, 1905)
Colours: Flowers golden yellow or light yellow.
Habitat: Epiphyte on trees and shrubs in lowland and lower montane forest; 250 to 1300 m.
Flowering time in the wild: April, May, June, July, December.
Distribution: Malesia (New Guinea, endemic).
Distribution in New Guinea: Papua New Guinea. See map: 485-22M.JPG.
Cultivation: Warm to intermediate growing epiphyte.