Octarrhena angustifolia

Octarrhena angustifolia (Schltr.) Schuit., Blumea 48 (2003) 511

Basionym: Chitonanthera angustifolia

Epiphytic, spreading to pendent, small, several-stemmed, to 15 cm high. Roots filiform, elongated, flexuose, glabrous. Stems flexuose, leafy, covered by the ancipitous leaf-sheaths. Leaves linear-falcate, acuminate, suberect to erect-patent, equitant, articulated, somewhat fleshy, 1-1.5 cm long, near the middle 0.1-0.15 cm wide, glabrous. Inflorescences very small, arising from the leaf axils, laxly 2- to 4-flowered, much shorter than the leaves. Floral bracts minute, shorter than the ovary. Flowers erect-patent, c. 0.4 cm diam. Sepals ovate, obtuse, patent, glabrous, almost 0.2 cm long. Lateral sepals somewhat oblique. Petals minute, much smaller than the sepals, obliquely obovate-spathulate, obtuse, densely papillose. Lip spreading, oblong-ligulate, obtuse, densely papillose, a little shorter than the sepals. Column terete, swollen at the base, densely papillose; clinandrium large, dorsally bifid, glabrous. Anther minute, in front shallowly notched. Ovary cylindrical, glabrous, almost 0.2 cm long. (After Schlechter, 1905 and Schlechter 1911-1914)

Colours: Flowers orange-red with somewhat darker petals and lip.

Habitat: Epiphyte in montane forest, growing in shaded positions, forming large clumps; 1500 to 2060 m.

Flowering time in the wild: January, April, July, September, October, November.

Distribution: Malesia (New Guinea, endemic).

Distribution in New Guinea: Papua (Indonesia); Papua New Guinea. See map: 486-61M.JPG.

Cultivation: Cool growing epiphyte, requires shaded position.

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