Bulbophyllum alticaule Ridl., Trans. Linn. Soc. London, Bot. 9 (1916) 188
Type: Kloss s.n. (Camp 6a, 500 ft.) (holo BM; iso AMES)
Rhizome c. 3 mm diam., scale fibres persistent. Pseudobulbs distant, cylindrical, 12-16 by c. 0.7 cm. Petiole 3.5-3.5 cm. Leaf blade elliptic, 14-16 by 4-4.8 cm, index (length/width) 3.2-3.5; acuminate. Inflorescence + erect, a dense raceme 16.5-24 cm, 8-22-flowered. Peduncle erect to patent, 13-16 cm, bracts c. 7, the longest 7-12 mm long. Rachis 3.5-6 cm. Floral bracts ovate, c. 5 by 2.8 mm, obtuse. Flowers not resupinate, not fully opening, many simultaneously. Pedicel and ovary 9-12 mm long, basal node + flush with the surface of the rachis, ovary ribs rounded, straight. Median sepal recurved, ovate, c. 9.5 by 6.5 mm, index 1.4-1.5; obtuse, margins somewhat erose near the tip, base broadly attached; rather thin; adaxially glabrous, abaxially slightly papillose and with scattered minute blackish dots. Lateral sepals free, recurved, oblique, triangular, c. 9.5 by 6 mm, index 1.5-1.6, rounded, margins entire; otherwise as the median sepal. Petals porrect, elliptic, c. 6.3 by 3.6 mm, index 1.7-1.8; rounded, margins somewhat erose near the tip, base rather broadly attached; thin, glabrous. Lip recurved in the distal half, ovate, c. 5 by 4 mm, index 1.2-1.3 (all without artificial spreading); rounded, margins entire; very thick, glabrous; adaxially concave and with a deep median furrow near the base, elsewhere convex, with 2 distinct, + parallel, rather narrow, obtuse ridges up over most of the length of the lip, space in between deeply channelled, + smooth, surface elsewhere coarsely rugose-verrucate; abaxially with a low and wide, retuse median ridge from base to tip, surface smooth. Column c. 3 mm long, stigma inside with three keels, at its base without teeth, column foot without tooth just above the ligament. Stelidia deltoid, c. 0.6 mm, obtuse, with a slight, deltoid, rounded wing along the lower margin, close to the base of the column. Anther abaxially + glabrous and with a small, rounded crest; front margin drawn out, slightly erose. (After Vermeulen, ms.)
Colours: Flowers pink (fide Ridley), median sepal and petals with darker spots distally.
Habitat: Epiphyte in lowland forest; 759 m.
Distribution: Malesia (New Guinea).
Distribution in New Guinea: Papua (Indonesia); Papua New Guinea; see map 96-82M.jpg.
Cultivation: Warm growing epiphyte.