Bulbophyllum longiflorum Thouars
May 21, 2010 § Leave a comment
Photographed at Kipandi Butterfly Park, 36km from Kota Kinabalu. This specie looks like a pretty lampshade. However, they have an unpleasant scent, faintly like garbage. The smell is noticeable, but I didn’t know it came from this orchid. Definitely not for indoors.
This orchid inhabit rainforests from sea level to 1,600 metres (5,300 feet). The pseudobulbs are up to 4.5 cm (1 3/4 inches) long and spaced about 5 cm (2 inches) apart on a creeping rhizome. The single leaf can be up to 15 cm (6 inches) long. The inflorescence is up to 20 cm (8 inches) long and can bear six to eight flowers in a semi-circle at the end.
The genus Bulbophyllum is the largest in the orchid family (Orchidaceae) with about 3,000 species. They are widely distributed, from the Americas, Africa and Madagascar to Eastern Australia and the Western Pacific Islands.
It has many vegetative forms; tall plants with cane like stems, root climbers and creepers and pendulous epiphytes. Some have developed succulent foliage. Although the flower form is diverse, they have a basic structural blueprint that serves to identify this genus. The center of diversity is in West Irian and New Guinea which seems to be the evolutionary homeland.