Oberonia finisterrae Schltr., Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. Beih. 1 (1911) 166
Type: Schlechter 18187 (holo B, lost)
Epiphytic, small, usually several-stemmed, up to 12 cm high. Rhizome very short; roots filiform, elongated, flexuose, glabrous. Stems usually very short, densely 4-6-leaved, entirely hidden by the leaf-bases, 1-3 cm long. Leaves subfalcate-oblique, lanceolate-ligulate, acute or subacuminate, glabrous, free part 2.5-6 cm long, at the base 0.4-0.7 cm wide. Inflorescence carrying flowers up to above the base, relatively laxly 15- to many-flowered, up to 3.5 cm long, 0.45 cm diam. across the flowers. Floral bracts lanceolate, acuminate, margins subdentate, almost as long as the ovary. Flowers very small, patent, glabrous. Sepals broadly elliptic, obtuse, 0.08 cm long. Lateral sepals oblique. Petals obliquely elliptic-oblong, obtuse, with finely erose-dentate margins, a little shorter than the sepals. Lip at the base subcordate-truncate, auriculate, somewhat narrowed above the base, extended into a large, subquadrate, at the apex truncate lobe with subdentate-irregular margins, basal auricles with denticulate outer margins, lip almost as long as the sepals. Column short, rather thick, glabrous. Anther reniform. Ovary subclavate, glabrous, including the pedicel c. 0.12 cm long. (After Schlechter, 1911-1914)
Colours: Flowers red-brown.
Habitat: Epiphyte on small trees in ridge crest forest; 1200 m.
Flowering time in the wild: September.
Distribution: Malesia (New Guinea, endemic).
Distribution in New Guinea: Papua New Guinea. See map: 485-117M.JPG.
Cultivation: Intermediate growing epiphyte.