Saccolabiopsis armitii (F.Muell.) Dockrill, Australasian Sarcanthinae (1967) 30
Basionym: Sarcochilus armitii
Small epiphyte. Stem short, up to 5 cm long, usually much less, 3- to 6-leaved. Leaves 1.5-6 by 0.6-1.3 cm, oblong, narrowly elliptical or narrowly obovate, acute or obtuse. Inflorescence 3-9 cm long; peduncle much shorter than the many-flowered rachis. Pedicel with ovary 0.2-0.3 cm long. Floral bracts less than 0.1 cm long. Flowers 0.35-0.4 cm diam., not widely opening, ringent. Median sepal 0.2 by 0.1 cm, concave-subspathulate. Lateral sepals 0.3 by 0.1 cm, somewhat falcate-subspathulate. Petals 0.1 cm long and wide, suborbicular or obovate. Lip about 0.2 by 0.1 cm, 3-lobed, with a high, transverse lamella between the lateral lobes, the lamella with a notch in the middle to which the apex of the rostellum extends; lateral lobes obliquely broadly triangular, rounded, clasping the column; mid-lobe 0.05 by 0.08 cm, more or less hemispherical, deeply concave-saccate, fleshy; spur about 0.15 by 0.05 cm, cylindrical, obtuse. Column about 0.15 cm long. Rostellum porrect, very large, about half as long as the column, narrowly subtriangular, shortly bifid at the apex. Anther with a porrect, long, narrowly triangular beak about equalling the rostellum; stipe about three times as long as the pollinia, very narrow, highly elastic, viscidium very narrow. (After Dockrill, 1969)
Colours: Flower translucent green, mid-lobe of lip white, anther dark red.
Habitat: Epiphyte in lowland forest.
Flowering time in the wild: Not known.
Distribution: Malesia (New Guinea), Australia.
Distribution in New Guinea: Not specified.
Cultivation: Warm growing epiphyte.