IOSPE PHOTOS

LATE to EARLY

Common Name The spreading Bulbophyllum [refers to the widely open flowers]

Flower Size 1 5/8" [4 cm]

This medium sized, unifoliate epiphytic species is from the lowland swamp forests of India, Thailand, Malaysia, Sumatra and Borneo swamp, peat swamp, lowland podosol, and mixed dipterocarp forests on tree trunks, avoiding deitrius, at elevations of sealevel to 200 meters and has a hairy rhizome, with 1.6" [4cm] between each ellipsoid, remote pseudobulb which is enveloped basally by a ring of veins left from an evanescent sheath and carrying a single, apical, elliptic-oblong, shortly bilobed apically, fleshy leaf and blooms on a 2" [5 cm] long, arching inflorescence with a few, basal, overlapping yellow bracts with red spots occuring in late winter and early spring with a solitary, non-resupinate, somewhat scented flower held below the leaf. A hot growing species that requires, hot conditions, shade, frequent waterings and fertilizings as well as high humidity.

Synonyms Phyllorchis patens (King) Kuntze 1891

This species and B macranthum are both in Section Stenochilus which differs only in the non-resupinate flowers, which does not seem enopugh to keep them separate from Section Sestochilos with which it fits well.

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Orchids of Malaya Holtum 1953; Manual of Cultivated Orchids Bechtel, Cribb & Laurent 1982; Orchids of Penninsular Malaysia Teo 1985; Orchid Genera in Thailand Vol VIII Bulbiphyllum Thou. Seidenfaden 1990; Orchids of Borneo Vol 2 Vermeullen 1991; Orchids of Penninsular Malaysia and Singapore Seidenfadden and Wood 1992; Manual of Orchids Stewart 1995; A to Z of SE ASian Orchids O'Byrne 2001; Bulbophyllums and Their Allies Seigerist 2001; A Field Guide to the Wild Orchids of Thailand Vaddhanaphuti 2001;