Bulbophyllum

• Authority

  Ackerman, James D. 1995. An orchid flora of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 73: 1-203.

• Family

  Orchidaceae

• Scientific Name

  Bulbophyllum

• Description

  Genus Description - Plants sympodial, epiphytic or lithophytic. Roots glabrous, velamentous. Rhizomes short to long, creeping or pendent, scarious sheaths. Secondary stems pseudobulbous, stout, distant or clustered, ovoid, often angled. Leaves 1-2, articulate, conduplicate, thin to coriaceous, often oblong. Inflorescences lateral from base of pseudobulb, pedunculate, spikes or racemes; rachis sometimes thickened or flattened. Flowers resupinate. Dorsal sepal free; lateral sepals connate to column foot forming a mentum. Petals free, smaller than sepals. Lip more or less fleshy. Column erect with aristate terminal teeth or wings; stigma entire; anther terminal, incumbent, operculate; pollinia 2 or 4, hard, waxy. Fruit a beakless capsule.

• Discussion

  Bulbophyllum Thouars, Hist. PL Orchid., t. esp. 2 sub u. 1822. Type species (conserved). Bulbophyllum nutans Thouars of tropical East Africa. A pantropical genus, mostly of Asia and Africa, of 1000-1200 species. The generic name refers to the thick fleshy leaves. Special Literature. Vermeulen, 1987.