Podochilus polytrichoides Schltr. in K.Schum. & Lauterb., Nachtr. Fl. Deutsch. Schutzgeb. Südsee (1905) 122
Type: Schlechter 13935 (holo B, lost; iso BO, BR, K, NSW, P)
Epiphytic, decumbent, sparsely branching; roots filiform, flexuose, glabrous; stems densely leafy, more or less flexuose, rooting, covered with the leaf-sheaths. Leaves narrowly linear, acuminate, twisted [at least when dried], 0.5-0.7 cm long, near the middle 0.05 cm wide, erect-patent. Flowers at the apex of the braches, few. Median sepal ovate, subacuminate, 0.2 cm long. Lateral sepals 0.2 cm long, at base along the front strongly dilated, at the base 0.15 cm wide; mentum oblong, obtuse. Petals oblong-ligulate, obtuse, a little shorter than the sepals, slightly oblique. Lip at the base ligulate, in apical half rounded, at the apex in the middle with minute calli, at the base beyond the point of insertion slightly extended and retuse, lip in total 0.25 cm long, near the apex 0.15 cm wide. Column short, foot elongated; rostellum erect, tridentate, with the median tooth minute. Anther ovate, notched at the apex; pollinia 4; stipes 2, hollowed out; viscidia 2, obliquely ovate, distinct. Fruit oblong, glabrous, 0.4 cm long. (After Schlechter, 1905)
Colours: Flower white.
Habitat: Epiphyte in lower montane forest; 20 to 900 m.
Flowering time in the wild: January, April, August, September.
Distribution: Malesia (New Guinea).
Distribution in New Guinea: Papua (Indonesia); Papua New Guinea. See map: 568-106M.JPG.
Cultivation: Intermediate growing epiphyte, requires shaded position.