Thursday, March 31, 2016

Bulbophyllum maximum (Lindl.) Rchb. f. 1861, was ID in the exhibit as Bulb. oxypetalum




I saw this orchid in the 2016 Puerto Rico orchid society show in the Rio Piedras Botanical Garden.  This plant has a strange otherworldly look with its large flattened inflorescences on the sides of which the tiny flowers are produced.  Given that the flowers were pretty much invisible from a distance, I have to give thanks to the PR Orchid Society which gave me permission to enter the exhibit to give a close up to the tiny flowers.  The plant body of this orchid is hardly distinct from many other Bulbophyllum species, but the inflorescences are outstandingly weird looking in a genus where weird infloresences are common.   The plant is mounted on a tree fern plaque and is doing well.  The massive inflorescences dwarf the plant body and, to the uninitiated, look utterly unorchid like.  

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