Oberonia pectinata Schltr., Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. Beih. 1 (1911) 159
Type: Schlechter 18540 (holo B, lost)
Epiphytic, erect, several-stemmed, up to 20 cm high. Rhizome very short; roots filiform, elongated, flexuose, glabrous. Stems densely 5-8-leaved, entirely hidden by the leaf-bases, straight or nearly so, up to 8 cm long. Leaves erect or suberect, linear, acute, usually subfalcate-oblique, glabrous, free part 5-8 cm long, at the base 0.3-0.4 cm wide. Inflorescence densely many-flowered, elongated, carrying flowers up to the base, 6-14 cm long, 0.5 cm diam. across the flowers. Floral bracts lanceolate, acuminate, with subdentate margins, glabrous, usually almost as long as the ovary. Flowers very small, patent, almost whorled, closely spaced, glabrous. Median sepal oblong, towards the apex with a few teeth, 0.08 cm long. Lateral sepals obliquely broadly ovate, subobtuse, as long as the median sepal. Petals obliquely oblong, obtuse, in upper half with irregularly pectinate-dentate margins, glabrous, a little shorter than the sepals. Lip at the base cordate-auriculate, auricles obtuse, broadly pandurate, lip below the middle deeply constricted, with irregular margins, at the apex indistinctly notched, a little longer than the sepals. Column very short, rather thick. Ovary subclavate, glabrous, including the pedicel c. 0.1 cm long. (After Schlechter, 1911-1914)
Colours: Flowers brown-red.
Habitat: Epiphyte in lower montane forest; 1100 m.
Flowering time in the wild: October.
Distribution: Malesia (New Guinea, endemic).
Distribution in New Guinea: Papua New Guinea. See map: 485-276M.JPG.
Cultivation: Intermediate growing epiphyte.