Lord Lamington's party to New Guinea in 1890 collected the type specimen of this species and Bailey described it in 1898. The type comes form Porlock Bay (Map 1) and the habitat is described as along the coast with the plants growing in crevices of the rock.

Schlechter (1912) and Rogers and White (1920) described two other varieties as S. papuana var puberula and S. papuana var puberiflora. Types of all three have been examined by the first author during his studies of the genus in Papuasia and found that the two varieties cannot be maintained as separate varieties and that S. papuana is quite distinct from these.

The herbarium specimen of Bailey consists only of a leaf and part of the inflorescence comprised of the rhachis, portion of the peduncle, floral bracts and some flowers. The parts are quite glabrous, the floral bracts are small and the peduncle is very slender (Fig. 3). Comparisons between Schlechter and Rogers and White specimens indicate that the latter is a more robust species with the inflorescence, floral bracts and flowers possessing distinct pubescent surfaces.

Bailey's specimen closely resembled an unidentified specimen collected by Carr (No. 10086, Lae) from Rouna area which is located at Sogeri (Map 1), consequently live collections were made from this region and further comparisons made with Bailey's No. 445.

The inflorescence, floral bracts and flowers of these were similar, however when compared with the Schlechter No. 20130 (Fig. 4) which is a young plant complete with pseudobulbs (not illustrated). It was noted that annulations or basal leaf sheath scars occurred throughout the length of the pseudobulb while the live collections and Carr's specimens had most of the annulations at the apex. (Fig. 5, Plate 7). At this point it appeared that S. papuana had been found again.

Bailey's description only indicated shape and size of the pseudobulb, which in Spathoglottis are phenotypically variable, and he did not describe the annulation patterns. These are dependent on the number of leaves and sheaths and they are, to some extent, more useful in identification. Therefore it was expected that, if fresh plant specimens of Spathoglottis could be obtained from the type collection locality or near that locality, the identification of the Sogeri specimens could be confirmed.

In 1991 the second author traveled to the Tufi area, which is close to Porlock Bay (Map 1) and located extensive colonies of a Spathoglottis species growing in conditions similar to that described by Bailey for S. papuana. Specimens collected and examined from this area compared very well with Bailey's type and Sogeri specimens. This included pseudobulb, annulations and plant habit.

From these collections it was concluded that the Tufi and Sogeri specimens were S. papuana and due to obvious differences between it and the variety puberula the latter cannot be maintained as a variety. It is proposed to deal with the taxanomic position of the variety more formally at a later date.

DESCRIPTION

Spathoglottis papuana F.M. Bailey. Qld. Agric. Journ. Vol. III, pt. II (1898) 6; Qld. Agric. Jounr. LCVII, p.159; LCVIII, p.350; IIX, p.441. Type: Papua new Guinea, Porlock Bay. Bailey s.n. (holotype, BRI).

Spathoglottis papuana var. puberula Schltr., Orch. D. N. Guinea (1912) 397. Holotype (B) destroyed; isosyntype Schlechter 20130 (S!).

Spathoglottis papuana var. puberiflora Rogers & White, Trans. Roy. Soc. S.A. 44 (1920) 116. Holotype Rogers & White No. 445 (BRI!).

Plant an erect terrestrial c. 25-50 cm tall. Rhachis short. Pseudobulbs ovoid to conic, tunicated with papery sheathing bases of leaves, not persistent, annulations confined to apex and one to the basal quarter, rarely near centre and sometimes absent, 3-6 foliate. Leaves grass-like plicated, with narrow petioles and sheaths enfolded towards base to form a pseudostem 5.1-12.7 cm long. Lamina lanceolate, acuminate, 30-45 cm long, c. 2.5 cm broad, in some locations the leaves are much larger. Inflorescence gracile, 24-45 cm or more tall; peduncle 20.7-37.5 mm long, 0.75-2.0 mm in diameter, glabrous, with 3 glabrous tubular sheaths; rhachis much shorter than peduncle, few flowered at a time, glabrous. Floral bracts ovate, 0.7 -1.1 cm long, 0.4-0.58 cm wide, apex acute to acuminate, glabrous. Flowers variable in size up to 3.78 cm wide. Dorsal sepals oblong-ovate, 1.68-2.16 cm long, 0.9-0.9 cm wide, sometimes dorsally ridged, glabrous. Lateral sepal oblong, 1.66-2.13 cm long. Petal oblong to oblong-ovate, 1.66-2.0 cm long, 1.0-1.13 cm wide, apex round or acute, glabrous. Labellum 3-lobed, when flattened, cruciform with lateral lobes at angles of 88 degrees to 121 degrees to the main axis, 1.36-1.69 cm long, c. 1.30-1.68 cm between apices of lateral lobes; lateral lobes oblong to falcate-cuneate, sub-truncate at apex, 6.3-8.4 mm long, 2.5-4.6 mm wide at base and 2.5-4.3 mm wide at apex. Midlobe with claw and broadly obcordate to triangular at apex, claw slender, 3.8-5.8 mm long, 1.0-1.5 mm wide, knee not prominent, sometimes absent, apical lamina 5.0-7.6 mm wide, lobules present at base of callus, not prominent; callus bilobed, attenuated at base, 2.0-2.8 mm tall, 2.58-3.8 mm wide, lobe dorsal plane obscurely triangular to rounded, few glandular hairs present at apex, few to glabrous at base. Column slender, c. 1.3-1.6 cm long, distinctly arched. Anther hooded, slightly umbonate, white. Pollinia typical. Ovary and pedicel slender with few sparsely scattered fine hairs or glabrous. Fruit cylindrical, 2. 2-3 cm long, 0.8-1.0 cm diameter, glabrous.

Colour: from nearly white to magenta or dark-purple. Lateral lobes cyclamen to salmon or dark-purple. Callus white or yellow, spotting present or absent, from pink to red. Columns pale pink. Floral bracts similar to petals and sepals, apex green.

DISTRIBUTION (Map 1)

The species is distributed from Porlock Bay to Tufi in the Oro Province, the D'Entrecasteaux Islands and Milne Bay region to Sogeri outside of Port Moresby.

The type specimen was collected at Porlock Bay, which is near Berubona Mission at the base of Mt. Trafalgar and the Topographers Range in the Oro Province (Map 1).

In the coastal region it grows in the crevices and on the face of rocks in the leaf mould. Inland from Port Moresby at Sogeri and Hombrom Bluff the species is flound in similar situations and in Eucalyptus savannah grassland around the Bluff (Plate 8 and 9). In one location it was found growing in moss on a tree trunk. The species altitudinal range is from 30 to 600 m above sea level.

At Tufi populations were observed on the overgrown rock faces (Plate 10) at the entrance to the Tufi wharf and at the first fjord south of Tufi growing in patches of kunai grass. The dark-purple colour forms are more easily detected from a distance and only by closer inspection of the sites are two other distinct colour forms revealed (Plates 11 and 12) growing side-by-side with the dark-purple ones. Plants observed were growing from about 5-10 metres above the sea surface on steep overgrown windswept rocks. The three colour forms observed are growing in individual patches of five to several hundred plants, the three colour forms not intermixed, although in close proximity to each other. Flowers from both areas can be compared in plates 13 and 14.

Papua New Guinea; Brass 2885, Dawa River, Milne Bay; 22113, Baiawa, Milne Bay (Map 1, location 5); Carr 10086, Rouna; Howcroft 348 (A - No. 8), 369, Hombrom Bluff; Womersley 8655, Sewa Bay, Normanby Island (Map 1, location 4), Womersley and Stone 43697, Veserago Creek, Rouna.

Not known from Irian Jaya.

The species has a pseudobulb that is similar to that of S. portus-finschii except it is slightly more conical. Unlike this species, the tunication on the pseudobulbs of S. papuana appear to be thicker and last longer (see Fig. 5). The inflorescence of both species is gracile, but S. papuana is distinctly glabrous with larger floral bracts than S. portus-finschii.

S. papuana var. puberula is quite distinct from this species in plant habit, size and tunication and it cannot be maintained as a variety of the species. The difference between the inflorescence of these two taxa is quite marked and cannot be overlooked as it clearly separates the two.

The main difference in the flowers is the glabrous tepals and a callus of smaller dimensions in S. papuana and in the dorsal plane a different shape and smaller size of the floral bracts.

The species has been reported to occur along the Hiritano Highway, northwest of Port Moresby and from accounts it may even be more robust than those examined. More populations of this species need studying to determine the extent of its variation.

Bailey, F.M. 1898. Queensland Agricultural Journal, Vol. III, pt. II:6

Rogers, R.S. and White, C.T. 1920. A Contribution to the Orchidaceous Flora of Flora of Papua (British New Guinea). In Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of South Australia, Vol. XLIV pp.116-117.

Schlechter, R. 1911-4. Die Orchidaceen von Deutsch Neu Guinea. Fedde Repert., Sp. Nov. Beih. 1: 1-1079

** c/- P.O. Box 7077, Boroko, NCD, Papua New Guinea