Bulbophyllum ablepharon Schltr., Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 58 (1923) 141
Type: Ledermann 12354 (holo B, lost)
Epiphyte, very small, tufted, 5-6 cm high. Rhizome very short. Pseudobulbs crowded, minute, ovoid-cylindrical, glabrous, concealed by the sheaths, hardly 0.3 cm high; 1-leaved. Leaf erect, elliptic-oblong, obtuse or minutely apiculate, 4.5-5.5 by 1-1.3 cm at about the middle; base gradually narrowed, petiole-like. Inflorescences very short, 1-flowered, hardly more than 0.9 cm long; peduncle very short; covered with a few peduncle-scales. Floral bracts elliptic-cucullate, subacuminate, slightly longer than the ovary. Flower suberect. Sepals narrowly lanceolate, subobtuse, acuminate, glabrous, 0.65 cm long. Lateral sepals connate in a lanceolate, subobtuse, acuminate, concave synsepal. Petals almost as long as the sepals, obliquely lanceolate, long acuminate, glabrous, 0.5 cm long. Lip very shortly clawed, 0.35 cm long; blade at the very base extended in 2 retrorse, obliquely semioblong, obtuse, very small auricles; basal third part quadrangular, with obtuse corners, hardly 0.1 cm wide, in the middle with a very small, obtuse, conical callus; top part linear-linguiform, obtuse; not ciliate, entirely glabrous. Column short, 0.15 cm long; stelidia erect, obliquely linear, obliquely acuminate; column-foot short. Ovary sessile, cylindrical, glabrous, 0.1 cm long. (After Schlechter, 1923)
Colours: Flower purplish-wine-red.
Habitat: Epiphyte in lower montane forest; 1100 m.
Flowering time in the wild: July.
Distribution: Malesia (New Guinea).
Distribution in New Guinea: Papua New Guinea; see map 96-35M.jpg.
Cultivation: Intermediate growing epiphyte.