Glomera merrillii Ames

Glomera merrillii Ames., Philipp. J. Sci., C 8:419 (1913 publ. 1914)- Type: Merrill 8290 (holotype, AMES)

Growth form Epiphyte, flexible, up to 40 cm high. Rhizome not seen. Roots filiform, flexible, glabrous. Stem rounded, 5 mm in diameter, proliferously leafed, completely covered by leaf sheaths, internodes 1.3-2.5 cm long. Leaf linear-lanceolate, distichous, coriaceous; apex unequally 2-lobe, both lobes obtuse; base contracted; lamina 8-10 cm long, 0.7-1 cm wide; sheath tubular, tight, densely warty; apex without tooth, with glabrous margin. Inflorescences terminal, capitulate, many-flowered, sub-globose, when young enveloped by a spathe. Spathe triangular-lanceolate, apex acute, acuminate, 1.2 cm long; floral bracts not seen. Flowers upright, glabrous. Median sepal lanceolate, apex shorter apiculate, 0.7 cm long. Lateral sepals connate up to the middle, slightly falcate, oblong-lanceolate, apex acute, apiculate, 0.6 cm long, 0.275 cm wide; mentum sac-like, obtuse, 0.3 mm long. Petal oblanceolate to subspathulate, 5-nerved, apex obtuse to rounded, 0.7 cm long, 0.2 cm wide. Lip adnate to the base of the column,  undivided, upper part subrounded, 0.2 cm long, 0.2 cm wide; epichile broadly obtuse; hypochile spurred; spur enlarged at the apex, apex obtuse, 0.3 cm long. Column enlarged; column foot present; clinandrium not seen; stelidia not seen. Anther broadly cucullate, with obtuse projection; pollinia 4, pyriform; stigma not seen; viscidium not seen. Ovary cylindric, glabrous, 0.6 cm long, subsessile. Capsule not seen.

Distribution – The Philippines.

Habitat and Ecology - Epiphyte in damp shaded ravine of the Sax river, Mindanao. Altitude 200 m. Flowering in November in the wild.

Notes -  1. Flowers white with red lip.

2. The epithet merrillii refers to the collector of the type specimen, E. D. Merrill.

3. Specimen observed: Merrill 8290.

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