Bulbophyllum microcala P.F.Hunt, Kew Bull. 24 (1970) 93
Basionym: Bulbophyllum microcharis
Epiphyte, creeping, very small, hardly more than 0.2 cm high. Rhizome filiform, flexuose, branched, slender. Pseudobulbs very small, ovoid or subglobose, 0.6-1.2 cm apart, 0.2-0.3 by almost 0.2-0.3 cm; 1-leaved. Leaf erect or suberect, ovate, elliptic or ovate, apiculate, 0.3-0.5 by 0.25-0.3 cm below the middle; base contracted. Inflorescences 1-flowered, erect, single, usually longer than the leaf, 0.6-0.75 cm long; peduncle wiry, at the base with a few small peduncle-scales. Floral bracts ovate-cucullate, shortly acuminate, many times shorter than the slender, pedicellate ovary. Flower glabrous. Sepals lanceolate, acuminate, 0.28 cm long. Lateral sepals falcate-oblique, in front towards the base widened, forming short, very obtuse mentum with the column-foot. Petals oblique, narrowly lanceolate, acuminate, almost as long as the sepals but much narrower. Lip curved, in outline oblong, subobtuse, 0.15 by 0.08 cm below the middle; below the middle the margins on either side dilated in a short, obtuse, triangular lobe. Column towards the apex somewhat widened, 0.05 cm long; stelidia obliquely ovate-triangular, obtuse, short. Ovary very slender pedicellate, glabrous, 0.4 cm long. (After Schlechter, 1923)
Colours: Flower green, with dark brown spots.
Habitat: Epiphyte in forest; 100-1100 m.
Flowering time in the wild: April, May.
Distribution: Malesia (New Guinea).
Distribution in New Guinea: Papua New Guinea; see map 96-1145M.jpg.