Bulbophyllum kanburiense

[Lars.Kurth]

Tom,

there is one source of good pictures I trust and there are a few good pictures of kanburiense (but not wallichii). To make matters worse there is also Bulb. refractum. See this picture followed by a few detail close-ups.

I just went with the magnifying glass over the flowers to check the deteail and lip, hairs on lips, etc. and all the details on my plant match the pictures. The exception is the colour, which is much more orange on mine. I also dug out ...

But then I dug out:

Bulb. kanburiense: lip is very fine ciliate, lateral sepals about 25mm, dorsal sepal wider ratio length: wide 2:1 (length less than 6-7mm)
Bulb. wallichii: lip only few hairs on its top, lateral sepals about 35-50mm, dorsal sepal much thinner ratio length: wide 3:1 (length less than 6-7mm)

On my plant, the dorsal sepal is about 2:1 but almost 1cm andn the lateral sepals are about 50mm, on the other hand the lips are totally hairy.

So yes: confusing

[Tom-19951]

Lars, here is the description of Bulbo. wallichii flower from the book written by three scientists--"... nodding flowers usually with orange-red sepals and petals and purple-black lip; dorsal sepal lanceolate, 5mm long, 1.7mm broad, irregularly fimbriate-margined; lateral sepal 2.7-4cm long, connate along one side except in basal part, lanceolate, sparsely ciliate; petals obliquely ovate-deltoid, 3mm long, 1.5mm broad, irregularly fimbriate-margined; lip fleshy, ligulate, 3.5mm long, recurved. hinged at base to column-foot, mobile, slightly concave, barbate on the lower surface and margin; column 1.5mm long; column-foot 1.5mm long."... and Bulbo. wallichii is a bifoliate species.

I still can't find description/ref. on Bulbo. kanburiense from reliable sources.


Hopefully, Jim Cootes will see this thread and give us some thoughts about these species.

[Brutal_Dreamer]

Great Color on this bulbo orchid! Love the flower shape too.

cheers,
BD

[pavel]

While you gents hash out the true ID, I'll just say .... lovely orange color!

[Lars.Kurth]

I attached some detail of lips, etc. Sorry for the bad quality, I had to use the original image as the plant has since ceased to flower. So if an expert such as Jim Cootes picks this thread up, that may help.


The lip is mobile and the darker bits are hairs: the hair is purple. There is less hair on the top of the lip. The hair is very fine but quite long: about 2mm.

In this picture you see the dorsal sepal and its shape (which is lanceolate/ovate), but is neither irregular nor fimbriate. The lip is hinged. You can also partly see the petals which are about 3-4mm long and almost as wide. There is some hair on the edges of the petals.

The dorsal sepal is about 1cm long and 5mm wide. The lateral sepals are about 50mm long and bilobed at the end.

This may be close enough for Tom's wallichii description, but in absence of a key and with kanburiense and refractum quite close to wallichii, this is probably not enough. Maybe this helps an expert. I think however, that there is too much confusing material out there for anybody but an expert to make a call.

[Jef09071984]

nice one indeed, like a flase bird of paradise.

thanks!