Malaxis merrillii (Ames) Ames 1908 SECTION Crepidium

TYPE Drawing by © Oakes Ames

Common Name Merrill's Malaxis [Amerian Botanist in the Philippines 1900's]

Flower Size .2" [5 mm]

Found on Mindoro of the Philippines on Mt Halcon at cliff bases in dense forests at elevations around 1700 to 1800 meters as a small sized, cool growing terrestrial with a creeping rhizome with several tubular bracts and giving rise to numerous, those below much reduced, those above ovate, lanceolate, acute, leaves that blooms in the fall on an ascending to erect, graceful, peduncle to 1.6" [to 4 cm] long, provided with deflexed, linear, acute bracts, loosely, few flowered inflorescence.

M merrillii is similar to M commelinifolia but M merrillii difers in the very different, larger leaves and dissimilar flowers.

Synonyms Crepidium merrillii (Ames) Szlach. 1995; Microstylis merrillii Ames 1907

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; *Orchidaceae 2: 128 Ames 1908 drawing fide;

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