Glomera cyatheicola P.Royen., Alp. Fl. New Guinea 2:522 (1979) fig. 181- Type : Kalkman 4852 (holotype, L)
Growth form Epiphyte, erect, branched, bushy, up to 18 cm high. Rhizome ca. 1-2 mm in diameter Roots filiform, long, flexible, glabrous. Stem branched, stout, proliferously leafed, completely covered by leaf sheaths, internodes 0.5-1.5 cm. Leaf ovate or slightly oblong-ovate, patent-spreading, sub-coriaceous, glabrous, midrib grooved above, prominent below, margin thin, wavy, scarious; apex unequally 2-lobed at tip, longer tip obtuse, shorter rounded; lamina 0.6-2.3 cm long, 0.4-0.8 cm wide; sheath cylindrical, many-nerved, densely warty, 0.3-0.7 cm long; apex toothed, with glabrous margin. Inflorescences terminal, 25-flowered, when young enveloped by a spathe. Spathe broadly or often obliquely obovate-orbicular, many-nerved, punctate, glabrous, 1.5 cm long, 1.1 cm wide, apex obtusely acuminate; floral bracts glabrous, obovate, obliquely oblong-ovoid, trigonous, curved, 0.35-0.4 cm long. Flowers upright, glabrous. Median sepal obovate-oblong, 3-nerved at base, 5-7-nerved in higher parts, apex obtuse, 0.7-0.8 cm long, 0.3-0.45 cm wide. Lateral sepals obliquely ovate, almost entirely free along lower margins, 0.7-0.8 cm long, 0.5 cm wide; mentum rounded, 2-lobed in frontal view, apex rounded, 3-nerved at base, 6-or more nerved in apical parts. Petal obliquely elliptic or elliptic-ovate, 3-nerved at base, 5-nerved in higher parts, apex rounded, 0.5-0.6 cm long, 0.3 cm wide. Lip obovate-oblong, 5-sided, 7-nerved, 0.4-0.45 cm long, 0.25-0.3 cm wide; epichile subacute; hypochile spurred; spur obliquely conoid, 0.2 cm long, 0.2 cm wide, apex 2-lobed. Column stout, curved, 0.2 cm long, 0.15 cm wide; clinandrium not seen; stelidia oblong, 0.08-0.1 cm long, obtuse. Anther cucullate-kidney-shaped, dorsally umbonate, retuse at either end, 0.1-0.3 cm long, 0.15 cm wide; rostellum not seen; stigma not seen; pollinia 4, pear-shaped, dark brown, 0.06 cm long; viscidium absent. Ovary obovoid, trigonous, 0.6 cm long, 0.3 cm wide. Capsule not seen.
Distribution – Papua New Guinea.
Habitat and Ecology - Epiphyte in upper montane forest in exposed positions. Altitude 2905 m. Flowering in July in the wild.
Notes - 1. Flowers greenish white with red ornamentation on the tip of the lip. Fruit glossy brown.
2. The epithet cyatheicola refers to the fact that this species tends to grow on tree-ferns (Cyathea- is a genus of tree-ferns and -cola means ‘growing on’ in Latin).
3. Specimen observed: Kalkman 4852.