Bulbophyllum forrestii Seidenf. 1973

 Native of China, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos and India.  

Bulbophyllum mastersianum x Bulbophyllum surigaense

 Bulbophyllum mastersianum x Bulbophyllum surigaense 

Bulbophyllum stellatum Ames 1912

 

Bulbophyllum stellatum Ames 1912, is a species that is from the Philippines.  Its a small plant with small flowers on an umbellate inflorescence.

Bulbophyllum scaberulum (Rolfe) Bolus 1889, on a basket. The irritating problem of long internodes between pseudobulbs

 

I love the genus Bulbophyllum.  It has an enormous number of species with curious and eye-catching flowers.  But they are also the source of much frustration.  The reason is the long internodes between pseudobulbs.  You put an orchid with long internodes in a pot and before you know it, all its new growths are out of the pot and hanging in the air.  This is not good as pseudobulbs that are not attached to something tend to be weaker than those that are mounted of growing in media like bark or tree fern. 

I have tried many things to tame these uncontrollable plants.  Two things have worked, tying them to a long tree fern pole and tying them to a wire basket full of water retentive media.  With Bulbophyllum scaberulum I tried a wire basket filled with media.  I worked wonders, and in a relatively short time the orchid have covered the outside of the wire basket.   The thing is these plants need constant attention to bend the long internodes back toward the wire basket and tie them so that when the pseudobulb develops the roots will easily find the media.   It is very annoying that they tend to grow in every direction except toward the media.

 As long as I kept a constant watch for new growths and tied them to the basket, everything was hunky-dory.  But since this plant was doing so well, my attention wandered.  What an error.  The next thing I knew all the new growths were in the air.   If this is not corrected, the plants become several chains of pseudobulbs hanging from the basket that are not full size and will not bloom.   This is very irritating.

 My recommendation if you have one of these orchids.   Buy a long tree fern pole and attach the plant to it.  Buy U shaped nails in the hardware store. When this pesky plant starts producing new growths, as soon as you see the new pseudobulb emerging from the internode, use the U shaped nail to attach the growth to the fern pole.  Be careful not to harm the internode as in this stage its not that hard.  So, don’t damage the internode when affixing the U nail to the fern pole.   I have lost several of these Bulbophyllum due to their tendency to gallop across and escape from even the largest pot before you realize it.   Take pieces of your plant and start new plants on other mounts so that if one deteriorates you will not lose the orchid.

Bulbophyllum romyi B.Thoms 2015

I saw this plant this orchid yesterday.   I was told a shipment that arrived on the island labeled as Bulb fascinator, turned out to be all Bulbophyllum romyi.  This is one case where I am sure nobody is complaining.  The color of this orchid makes it very hard to get a good photo.  I had to use the phone camera to capture the incredibly dark lip.  When I took photos with my DSRL camera, the flower comes out red, beautiful, but highly unrealistic.  The plant I saw is still young, I was told that when it gets bigger the flower will be even more impressive.

Bulbophyllum carunculatum Garay, Hamer, & Siegrist 1994

This plant was a given to me by the Mayaguez Orchid society.  It has grown well in the warm and humid environment of my garden.

Bulbophyllum scaberulum (Rolfe) Bolus 1889, the flowers are tiny, intricate gems.

This orchid is an African Bulbophyllym of the section megaclinium.  I brought it some years ago.  It had a few small pseudobulbs and was mounted in cork.  I tied the cork plaque to a wire basket full of bark and allowed the plant to roam free.  I grew it shady with frequent watering and fertilizer.  The flower grew well and spread over the basket but failed to bloom.  This year I noted that the plant had plenty of adult sized pseudobulbs so it should have bloomed some time ago.  My rule of thumb is that if a plant is not blooming the first thing to check it to see if it is getting enough light.  I moved it to a brighter part of the shade house, only a short distance away from where it was growing.  In weeks the inflorescences started appearing.

Bulbophyllum rubroguttatum Seidenf. 1985

I brought this plant a few years back to Housermann orchids in Illinois.  Compared with my other Bulbophyllum it is relatively slow growing.  I think I had in too much shade since it didn't bloom for years.  I moved it to brighter light and it started producing inflorescences.  The only complaint I have with the species is the annoyingly long internodes, some are more than four inches long!  I have found very little information about this plant aside from the fact that it is found in Thailand.

Bulbophyllum (echinolabium x phalaenopsis)

I brought this plant a few years ago from Carter and Holmes.  It has been growing slowly, at least when compared with my other Bulbophyllum.  The flower is richly colored and the stink it produces is faint when compared with the sheer revolting and powerful smell that issues from the parent species.  I will repot it when it finishes blooming to a basket to see if this helps the plant grow larger.

Bulbophyllum facetum

Bulbophyllum macranthum Lindley 1844, first blooming in my garden

I brought this plant at the 2017 Puerto Rico Orchid society show.  I liked the plant because it was large and had many growths.  It is growing on a plank of wood.  When the rainy season started I began watering it every day, if it had not rained that day.  To my delight, it started producing new leads.  At the moment it has six new growths that are on their way to grow larger and huskier than the previous growths.  It has a single flower and two buds.  In the species the flower is non resupinating, so it is upside down.

Bulbophyllum barbigerum, video of lip moved by the wind

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJNTzedW59I

Bulbophyllum barbigerum Lindley 1837, flower close up

Maybe Bulbophyllum grandiflorum Blume 1847

Bulbophyllum treschii Jenny 2012

Bulbophyllum (annandalei x frostii)

This orchid is growing will in the very heart of the metropolitan area of the capital of Puerto Rico.  It is a hot and humid place and it seems to suit this hybrid well.  The flowers form is intermediate between that of the parents.

Bulbophyllum cocoinum Bateman ex Lindl. 1837, will do well in hot coastal Puerto Rico, as long as it gets the proper humidity and care.

This African Bulbophyllum has a coconut fragrance.  This plant was cultivated by a friend it eventually turned into an specimen plant, it completely filled the basket with growths.

Bulbophyllum medusae [Lindley] Rchb.f 1861, the inflorescence photographed from a different angle

These orchid inflorescences are usually photographed from the side.  I decided to photograph it from the bottom.  This perspective makes the inflorescence look much different than what we are used to see.

Bulbophyllum rothschildianum (O'Brien) J.J. Sm. 1912, in 2016

In 2016, this orchid has produced his best blooming ever, with several inflorescences at the same time.  I attribute this to better care during its growing season and that I found the light exposure that is best for good growth, full sun for a few hours in the morning and bright shade the rest of the day.

Bulbophyllum Lovely Elizabeth, this clone would produce large pink inflorescences, sadly I lost it. From losing this plant I learned the wisdom of always having more than just one division of your most prized plants.

This clone was beautiful and a vigorous grower.  Sadly I lost it because it was one of my firsts Bulbophyllum and I was still learning how to keep them well in the long term.  I have brought other clones of this hybrid but they all have been smaller and redder, favoring the rothschildianum parent.