Taeniophyllum grandiflorum Schltr. in K.Schum. & Lauterb., Nachtr. Fl. Deutsch. Schutzgeb. Südsee (1905) 221
Type: Schlechter 14171 (holo B, lost)
Epiphytic, stemless, delicate, hardly 1 cm high; roots elongated, flexuose, glabrous, strongly flattened, 0.4-0.6 cm wide. Stem almost lacking: leaves reduced to minute scales. Inflorescence erect or ascending, few-flowered, hardly 1 cm high, somewhat flattened, glabrous. Floral bracts ovate-lanceolate, acuminate, flattened, 0.3 cm long, shorter than the ovary, glabrous. Sepals at the base linear, somewhat dilated in apical half, lanceolate, acuminate, glabrous, 1.4 cm long. Lateral sepals somewhat oblique. Petals almost as long as the sepals, similar but somewhat falcate-oblique, acuminate, glabrous. Lip at the base oblong, concave, 3-lobed, 1.1 cm long, up to the tips of the lateral lobes 0.8 cm long, glabrous; lateral lobes triangular, acute; mid-lobe lanceolate, acute or acuminate, more twice as long as the lateral lobes, with a conspicuous, lanceolate, acute, at the base emarginate callus; spur subcylindrical, somewhat inflated, obtuse, 0.5 cm long. Column short; rostellum strongly elongated, in front ascending. Anther rounded, in front with a beak-like, at the base somewhat dilated, towards the apex narrowed and elongated extension; pollinia 4 subglobose; stipe very slender, dilated towards the apex; viscidium conspicuous, panduriform. Ovary subcylindrical, glabrous, 0.7 cm long. (After Schlechter, 1905)
Colours: Flower pale yellowish.
Habitat: Epiphyte in lowland forest; 300 to 600 m.
Flowering time in the wild: February, April.
Distribution: Malesia (New Guinea).
Distribution in New Guinea: Papua New Guinea. See map: 676-89M.JPG.
Cultivation: Warm growing epiphyte.