Bulbophyllum fritillariflorum

[H20]

This has got to be my favourite Bulbo right now.

First off, this species is often confused with two closely related species, Bulb. arfakianum and Bulb. fraudulentum. I am currently working on a picture ID on how to separate them but need some more picture, if you have correctly ID'ed plants with pictures please PM me.

You cant ask for much more then this Bulbo. gives. This plant is less the two years out of flask and has thrown out two flowers. The first flower that opened was 3 inches long yet the largest growth is only just over 2.5 inches. Its blooms 6 inches above the plant and is self supported.

As most species in the Hyalosema section it can take brighter light and probably needs it to bloom well. I keep it moist year round with very warm condition (all you dart frog people should like this species)

It arguably has the greatest patterning in the entire genus yet has no hybrids to date. I hope to change that and see how this species breeds.

The buds stay extremely thin until 3 or 4 days before they open


At which point they swell like crazy and pull back the dorsal sepal




Can you imagine the patterns that could come through on hybrids?




Justin

[christerb]

Hi,

Very pretty! Yes, there seem to be some confusion in this group. I have seen plants like yours being called both B. fritillariiflorum and B. arfakianum. I thought I had figured B. fraudulentum out, a less spectacular flower with dark reflexed petals with rounded apex. Also the basal part of the dorsal sepal doesn't curve back as much before going forward over the lateral sepals. However, the Kew Monocot list states that it is synonym to B. arfakianum.

I would be interested to know in what separates the other two. Maybe the plants that is called B. fraudulentum indeed is B. arfakianum. It would be nice to have access to the original descriptions for these species.

Regards,

Christer

[H20]

Christer, you're thinking along the same lines as me. I would love to get my hands on the original descriptions and defining characteristics.

I've read many articles citing that there are obvious differences between arfakianum and fraudulentum but they never say what they are. If you ever find a distinct difference in them please let us know!

For now I'm try to gather together photos of correctly ID'ed plants and help people out by posting pictures and showing the difference between all three.

[christerb]

Hi again,



Several years ago I got this one as B. fritillariiflorum, but I thought that it looked more like a plant called B. cominsii. This ID was confirmed by Wolfgang Bandisch. But according to Kew Monocot list this is a synonym to B. grandiflorum. I still see photos of similar looking plants as either B. cominsii, or B. fritillariiflorum. The shape of the dorsal sepal does look like the ones on B. grandiflorum. However, I have seen some differences too, apart from the more obvious, the coloration, and the joined lateral sepals, there's the hairiness of the flowers, and shape of the petals. Also, it generally have longer distance between the pseudobulbs.

Then there's the thought that most plants in cultivation labelled B. grandiflorum is B. burfordiense. I am a bit doubtful about this, because can't the differences just be natural variation in this species?



Next one is an old pic (pre-digital, so it sucks!) of what I received as B. arfakianum, when it flowered I didn't think it looked correct. After reading E. Siegerists book, I was confident that it must be B. fraudulentum. It seems many growers thought the same, as I see this name on similar looking plants. Now however, I am starting to wonder if B. fraudulentum actually is a valid species.

Regards,

Christer