Rhomboda novaehiberniae (Schltr.) Ormerod, Orchadian 11 (1995) 334 ('novae-hiberniae')
Basionym: Zeuxine novaehiberniae
Terrestrial, erect, slender, 15-25 cm high. Rhizome decumbent, stem-like; roots elongated, flexuose, finely villose. Stem terete, glabrous, base leafless, with soon-decaying sheaths, 4- to 6-leaved just below the inflorescence. Leaves patent, petiolate; blade obliquely lanceolate or elliptic-lanceolate, acute or acuminate, glabrous on both sides, 3-5.5 cm long, below the middle 0.7-1.3 cm wide; petiole dilated at the base, sheathing, 1-2 cm long. Peduncle with a few small, bract-like, distant scales, glandulose-puberulous; rachis rather laxly 6- to 15-flowered, up to 7 cm long. Floral bracts ovate-lanceolate, acuminate, outside somewhat puberulous, with sparsely ciliate margin s, a little more than half as long as the ovary. Flowers glabrous. Median sepal broadly ovate, acuminate, 0.5 cm long. Lateral sepals obliquely ovate, shortly acuminate, a little longer than the median sepal. Petals semiovate, shortly acuminate, glabrous, about as long as the median sepal and adhering to it along their inner margins. Lip in outline ovate-cucullate, as long as the petals, when flattened almost square, near the apex abruptly contracted and then widened into a small, reniform, apiculate lobe; lip inside at the base with two falcate-ligulate glands with unequally denticulate apices; mid-vein swollen, above the middle with a short verruculose callus. Column almost globose, in front with two wing-like, slightly crenulate lamellae. Ovary cylindrical, glabrous, 0.8 cm long. (After Schlechter, 1911-1914)
Colours: Leaves dark purple above, without lighter mid-vein. Flowers brownish with white petals and lip.
Habitat: Terrestrial in lower montane forest; 600 m.
Flowering time in the wild: July.
Distribution: Malesia (New Guinea).
Distribution in New Guinea: Papua New Guinea. See map: 606-17M.JPG.
Cultivation: Intermediate growing terrestrial, requires shaded position.