Saccolabiopsis rectifolia
Saccolabiopsis rectifolia, commonly known as the tiny pitcher orchid, is an epiphytic orchid from the family Orchidaceae. It has a short stem, thin roots, between three and six crowded leaves and up to fifteen cup-shaped green flowers with a white, purple spotted labellum. It grows on the thinnest outer branches of rainforest trees in tropical North Queensland, Australia.
Description
Saccolabiopsis rectifolia is a tiny epiphytic herb with a single main growth, thin roots and an unbranched stem long. There are between three and six crowded, thin, light green to yellowish leaves long and wide. Between four and fifteen cup-shaped, resupinate green flowers about long and wide are arranged on a thin flowering stem long. The sepals and petals are about long and wide. The labellum is white with purple spots, about long and wide with a beak-like tip and a nectar bearing spur. Flowering occurs from June to August.
Taxonomy and naming
The tiny pitcher orchid was first formally described in 1967 by Alick William Dockrill and given the name Robiquetia rectifolia. The description was published in Australasian Sarcanthinae. In 1972, Leslie Andrew Garay changed the name to Saccolabiopsis rectifolia. The specific epithet is derived from the Latin words rectus meaning "straight", "upright", "proper" or "right" and folia meaning "leaves".
Saccolabiopsis rectifolia grows on the thinnest outer branches of rainforest trees between the Russell and Johnstone Rivers in Queensland.