Oberonia rhodostachys Schltr., Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. Beih. 1 (1911) 158
Type: Schlechter 19233 (holo B, lost)
Epiphytic, erect, small, 4-6 cm high. Rhizome very short; roots filiform, elongated, flexuose, glabrous. Stems short, 4-5-leaved, up to 1.5 cm long, entirely hidden by the leaf-bases. Leaves erect-patent, obliquely ligulate, acute or apiculate, glabrous, free part 1-2 cm long, at the base 0.2-0.3 cm wide. Inflorescence thin, carrying flowers to above the base, densely many-flowered, erect or suberect, up to 4.5 cm long, c. 0.8 cm diam. across the flowers. Floral bracts lanceolate, acuminate, glabrous, with irregular margins, keeled outside, as long as or a little longer than the ovary. Flowers minute, patent, almost whorled, closely spaced, glabrous. Median sepal ovate, obtuse, almost 0.05 cm long. Lateral sepals obliquely elliptic, obtuse, as long as the median sepal. Petals obliquely obovate, obtuse, margins irregularly several-dentate, as long as the sepals. Lip at the base subcordate, 3-lobed, as long as the petals; lateral lobes patent, obliquely trapezoid, truncate, subentire; mid-lobe twice as long, trapezoid-obovate, at the apex truncate-broadly obtuse. Column very short, rather thick, glabrous. Anther reniform, obtuse, glabrous. Ovary clavate, glabrous, including the pedicel c. 0.1 cm long. (After Schlechter, 1911-1914)
Colours: Flowers, as well as the rachis and the floral bracts, brown-red.
Habitat: Epiphyte in lowland forest; 200 m.
Flowering time in the wild: April.
Distribution: Malesia (New Guinea, endemic).
Distribution in New Guinea: Papua New Guinea. See map: 485-314M.JPG.
Cultivation: Warm growing epiphyte.