Medium sized terrestrial. Stems to 6 cm long. Leaves oblong to obovate, to 23 cm long, to 3 cm wide, leathery, tip minutely 3-lobed, pale to dark green, glossy. Inflorescences to 40 cm long, erect. Flowers solitary, to 10 cm long, red, yellow or cream; spring. Sepals dissimilar, all fused at base, laterals fused for about one third their length, not tailed. Petals small, linear, 2-lobed. Labellum small, oblong, 2-ridged.
Colombia and Peru.
M. ignea Rchb. f. from Colombia is a medium sized epilith with large, dark green leaves and solitary flowers that are tailed on the dorsal sepal only and are orange to scarlet in colour. Syn. M. militaris Rchb. f.
Source: (2005). Orchidaceae. In: . Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia. Volume 5. Flowering plants. Monocotyledons. The identification of garden and cultivated plants. University of New South Wales Press.
