Bulbophyllum rigidipes Schltr. in K.Schum. & Lauterb., Nachtr. Fl. Deutsch. Schutzgeb. Südsee (1905) 215
Type: Schlechter 14362 (holo B, lost)
Epiphyte, elegant, to 45 cm high. Rhizome creeping. Roots filiform, flexuose, glabrous. Pseudobulbs cylindrical-conical, 3-4 by 0.5-0.8 cm above the base; 1-leaved. Leaf narrowly elliptic-ligulate, acuminate, glabrous, including the petiole 10-20 by almost 2-3 cm in the middle; base narrowed into a 2.5-4 cm long petiole. Inflorescence slender, erect, rather rigid, to 45 cm long; peduncle-scales few, distant. Inflorescence many-flowered, distichous, gradually elongated. Floral bracts laterally compressed, dense, ovate, acuminate, slightly more than a fourth as long as the pedicellate ovary. Flowers opening in succession, large, glabrous. Sepals lanceolate, long acuminate, 2.8 cm long. Lateral sepals oblique. Petals at the base elliptic, 0.8 cm long; apex 3-lobulate, lateral lobes short with few teeth, median one bristle-like, much longer. Lip broadly elliptic, apiculate, 1.4 by 0.8 cm in the middle; base muriculate, with a double V-shaped crest. Column slender; apex somewhat 2-winged, with short, apically truncate wings. Ovary pedicellate, glabrous, c. 1.7 cm long. (After Schlechter, 1913)
Colours: Flowers whitish striped red. Petals dark red. Lip brown-red. Column yellow.
Habitat: Epiphyte in lower montane forest; 900 m.
Flowering time in the wild: April, September.
Distribution: Malesia (New Guinea).
Distribution in New Guinea: Papua New Guinea; see map 96-1590M.jpg.
Cultivation: Intermediate growing epiphyte.