Taeniophyllum maximum J.J.Sm., Bull. Dép. Agric. Indes Néerl. 39 (1910) 20
Type: Römer, von 225 (holo BO; iso L)
Stout. Stem short; roots elongated, flattened, to 75 cm long, 0.6 cm wide. Inflorescences long pedunculate, at the apex many-flowered; peduncle stout, terete, 29.5 cm long, peduncle-scales small, very few, rachis angular, 2.8 cm long. Floral bracts very dense, spirally arranged, patent, fleshy, triangular, 0.25 cm long, concave, dorsally keeled and adnate to the middle part of a shorter, irregularly triangular, dentate appendage with free margins. Flowers fleshy, opening in succession. Median sepal obovate-oblong, concave, dorsally with 5 prominent nerves, 1 by 0.5 cm. Lateral sepals obliquely subelliptic, obtuse, obtusely apiculate, strongly concave, with 5 dorsally thickened, prominent nerves, 1 by 0.46 cm. Petals obliquely oblong, obtuse, concave, with 5 dorsally prominent nerves, 0.9 by 0.35 cm. Lip spurred; spur pointing downwards, making an almost right angle with the blade, clavate, laterally flattened, obtuse, 0.6 cm long, 0.15 cm diam.; blade in outline subobovate-rhombic, thickly fleshy, verrucose, 0.7 cm long; hypochile (claw) cuneate, underneath strongly concave, inside with a narrow longitudinal concavity with thickly fleshy edges, epichile (mid-lobe) on either side separated from the hypochile by a minute sinus, broadly subovate-triangular, rounded, with the margins irregularly lobulate and strongly incurved, inside with 2 strong, longitudinal, warty swellings, near the apex separated by a hollow, underneath near the apex thickly conical-convex, 0.45 by 0.5 cm. Column curved, 0.2 cm long; rostellum large, decurved, linear, channelled, fleshy; stigma narrow, deeply concave. Anther cucullate, long narrowly triangular-rostrate, beak of the anther parallel with the ventral side of the column, together with the rostellum pointing into the basal concavity of the lip, 0.24 cm long; pollinarium 0.23 cm long; pollinia 4, paired, unequal, the larger ones obliquely elliptic, gibbose, 0.08 cm long, the smaller obliquely obovoid, all grooved at the base; stipe spathulate in the basal part linear, margins in the upper part recurved with the apex strongly dilated strongly incurved undulate; viscidium suborbicular. Ovary 6-grooved, swollen at the base thickened, 0.54 cm long. (After Smith, 1911)
Colours: Not recorded.
Habitat: Epiphyte in lowland forest; 170 m.
Flowering time in the wild: June, September.
Distribution: Malesia (New Guinea).
Distribution in New Guinea: Papua (Indonesia). See map: 676-127M.JPG.
Cultivation: Warm growing epiphyte.